It took a special round to win it, and Moa Folke of Sweden provided just that with a brilliant bogey-free eight-under-par 64 on Sunday to take the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am at Fancourt.
The 27-year-old made the normally intimidating Montagu layout at Fancourt look easy on the final day of the R2.5-million Sunshine Ladies Tour event.
Starting the final round five shots off the lead, Folke fired an eagle and six birdies, and her eight-under-par 54-hole tally left her three shots clear of long-time leader Anne-Lise Caudal of France.
What.A.Round - https://t.co/37yFaugu49!!
— Sunshine Ladies Tour (@SLadiesTour) February 12, 2023
Coming from 5 shots back, our 2023 champion fired a blistering, bogey-free 8-under 64 with a birdie finish on the tough Montagu to lift the 2023 #ddladiesproam crown! #TakeABow MOA FOLKE!#sunshineladiestour #WeGotGame #BetterTogether pic.twitter.com/HtMpPNfBsA
Five-time Investec South African Women’s Open champion Lee-Anne Pace finished four shots back in third, and England’s Lily May Humphreys, who couldn’t keep a grip on to the lead she held after the first and second rounds, was fourth on three-under. Kaleigh Telfer rounded out the top five, closing with a 69 to finish on one-under.
First place was worth almost R400 000 and boosted the delighted Folke to the summit of the Investec Order of Merit.
“I’m so happy,” said Folke, whose only other professional win came on the Swedish Golf Tour. “I got off to a very good start, which really helped me. I knew I started quite far behind, but I just felt I had to keep going and how long I could go. I played really well off the tee all week, but really struggled on the greens. But today everything clicked, and it just felt like I was never in trouble. That was a very nice feeling.”
After two opening pars, she made birdie on three and then picked up an eagle in the fourth, which got her charge well underway. “I hit a really good drive on four,” she said, “and then I had a five-iron in. I actually hit it to about three metres. It was a really good shot and then I made the putt.
“Everything just worked out great today. I hit my driver well and got a lot of opportunities, and just seemed to be putting pretty well today. The first two days I struggled so much, and I was very frustrated, but today, I found something this morning on the practice green. The, I got off to a good start and made a few. After that, it was much better today.”
Caudal also made eagle on four to pick up her first shots of the day and hit the front.
It was a position she held with two birdies and two bogeys until she went out of bounds on the 14th and ended up making double-bogey six there. A bogey on 16 and a birdie on 18 left her in second.
For Folke, there were no such problems; her scorecard boasted a lone five on the lengthy 10th and the rest were threes and fours.
“I didn’t really make any mistakes today, which is rare for a golfer to say,” she said. “Everything just seemed to go my way, and I kept hitting great shots.
“I looked at a leaderboard a few times, and I saw that it was really close. I saw Anne-Lise was at seven-under for a very long time, and coming into 18, I thought we were tied. But when I was going to hit my approach, I saw that she was on four-under. I thought maybe that wasn’t right. I could relax a little bit, but I still kept going.”
Fortune favoured the Swedes for a second successive year as Folke follows in the footsteps of the superb Linn Grant, the fabulous Swede who took the title at Fancourt last year and went on to a dominating year on the Ladies European Tour.
“Linn is such an inspiration to me,” said Folke. “She’s done so well and she’s such a great player. It feels great to win here like she did. I hope I can keep building off this and have some more good things happen.”
She’s giving herself a chance by staying on for the rest of the Sunshine Ladies Tour season. “South Africa is one my favourite countries,” she said. “I love coming here, so I’m staying until the end of March. I’m playing the next two tournaments and then the two Ladies European Tour co-sanctioned events, the Joburg Ladies Open and the Investec South African Women’s Open, at the end of the season.”
Folke will have a chance to emulate Grant with back-to-back victories in the Cape Town Ladies Open, which tees off at a new venue – the Atlantic Beach Links – from 15-17 February.
LEADING FINAL SCORES
208 - Moa Folke (SWE) 71 73 64
211 - Anne-Lise Caudal (FRA) 71 68 72
212 - Lee-Anne Pace 71 71 70
213 - Lily May Humphreys (ENG) 68 71 74
215 - Kaleigh Telfer 72 74 69
217 - Michelle Forsland (NOR) 70 73 74
218- Emie Peronnin (FRA) 77 70 71, Ridhima Dilawari (IND) 75 72 71, Kristyna Napoleaova (CZE) 71 72 75, Gabrielle Venter 75 71 72
219 - Tandi McCallum 70 78 71, Zethu Myeki 70 72 77
220 - Genevieve Ling (MAL) 76 70 74
222 - Cara Gorlei 72 76 74, Ivanna Samu 75 73 74, Hannah Arnold (USA) 75 73 74, Nicole Garcia 71 76 75, Nobuhle Dlamini (SWZ) 70 76 76
225 - Dorthea Forbrigd (NOR) 73 75 77, Lejan Lewthwaite 72 73 80