Nocera seals sixth LET victory in Scotland

France’s Gwladys Nocera claimed a two shot victory at the €200,000 Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open on Saturday.

The 32-year-old from Biarritz shot rounds of 69, 70 and 69 at The Carrick on Loch Lomond for a five-under-par total of 208.

It was her sixth Ladies European Tour victory inside two years after three wins in 2006 and a further two titles in 2007.

Sweden’s Maria Boden recorded a career best finish of second on three-under after a final round of 69. England’s Rebecca Hudson had a 68 and tied for third on two-under with Austria’s Nicole Gergely, who shot 69.

Nocera tied for the lead with Boden after the first round and was a stroke clear of the field going into the final day. She birdied the second hole to take a two stroke advantage and maintained her lead in dry but cold conditions. Nocera carded back-to-back birdies at the seventh and eighth holes and after a three-putt bogey at the ninth she held a three stroke lead over five players at the turn.

Coming in, she birdied the tenth but then bogeyed 12 and 14 to move back to four-under-par and her lead was narrowed to a stroke with one hole to play.

She sealed the victory and the €30,000 first prize with an impressive birdie at the 407-yard par-four last, where she hit her drive 317 yards and then holed from 20 feet.

“It’s great. Winning is one of the best things in life, I think. I’m really happy. I had a really good day,” said Nocera, who now resides in Lausanne, Switzerland. “I started off steady, making putts. Then I had two three putts in a row and that kind of hit me a little bit but I kept on playing and thought, “Just do your best.”

After the close finish, Nocera said that she had been pushed to play better by keeping an eye on the leader boards.

“There were a lot of good scores. The thing that was hard was that they were done playing and I had to deal with the situation. I just thought about doing the best I could.”

Having finished in second and third place on the LET’s money rankings over the last two seasons, Nocera added: “My goal when I started the season was to win the New Star Money List because I haven’t won it yet. That’s the plan this year.”

Boden, who was 79th on the New Star Money List last year, was delighted to better her previous career best finish of third at the 2002 Irish Open and thanked her caddie Emma Zackrisson, who won the Spanish Open a fortnight ago. Zackrisson missed the 36-hole cut and carried her friend’s bag on the last day.

“I’m very happy and so happy Emma was on the bag to keep me calm,” said Boden. “She is so relaxed and we were talking about normal girlie stuff. She really helped me out.”

Hudson, the 2006 OTP Bank Ladies Central European Open champion, recorded her third top-ten finish in three starts this year, excluding her win in the European Cup, which was a team event.

Slightly disappointed to have missed a three-foot par putt for a share of second, she said: “I had to go for that putt. It’s one of those things. I hit 18 greens in regulation and can’t fault that. I hadn’t holed any putts until the back nine then I got another good run going.

“I am playing well. I’ve hit the ball tee to green really well. Another top ten and I’ll keep working away, trying to win an event to get into Evian and look towards Solheim next year. I missed out last year and I want to be in that team next year.”