News from Ladies European Tour

Rebecca Coakley leads with

a 63 in Ladies' Swiss Open

FROM THE LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Ireland’s Rebecca Coakley shot a blistering nine-under-par 63 to grab the first round lead at the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open.
The 27-year-old former Irish Ladies Close Champion from Carlow takes a four-shot lead into the second round ahead of seven players on five under par 67: Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, England’s Lisa Hall, South Korean Amy Yang, Spaniards Paula Marti and Marina Arruti, Swiss amateur Anais Maggetti and Ludivine Kreutz from France.
Coakley (picture by courtesy of Ladies European Tour website), who hopes to become Ireland’s first representative in The Solheim Cup when it is played at Killeen Castle in 2011, began her round at the 10th hole and was five-under-par on her front nine. She came back in four-under, birdieing her last three holes in drizzling rain at Golf Gerre Losone, near Ticino in the foothills of the Swiss Alps.
Her score equalled the course record set by France's Gwladys Nocera in 2006 en route to her maiden Ladies European Tour victory. Nocera has since won a further five times.
After making birdie at the 10th, Coakley seized the early lead when she holed her second shot from 93 metres with a pitching wedge for eagle at the par-4 12th. She went on to birdie seven more holes: the 13th, 14th, second, fifth, and three in a row from the seventh.
The only mistake on an otherwise perfect score card was a bogey at the sixth hole, where she missed the fairway with her drive and had to chip back on. “I nearly holed the putt for a par but it just lipped out and that was the only mistake during the round. Everything else was good,” said Coakley, who has endured a tough start to the Ladies European Tour season, with her best individual finish a tie for 53rd place at the Spanish Open in Castellon.
“I had only 22 putts. When you hole out with a pitching wedge and putt in from off the green on nine it makes life easy. Today feels great and we will see what tomorrow will bring. If it happens, it happens. If not, it’s not the end of the world.”
Coakley visited the Pelz Academy in Boca Raton, Florida, in March in an attempt to improve her short game and she recently also began playing with a new set of Titleist AT2 irons and woods with graphite shafts; all part of an attempt to lower her scoring average which she now believes is paying off.
“I’m going through a few changes at the moment so I’ve got to keep at it. Some weeks are going to be harder than others. If I can stick to it then hopefully there will be more of this,” she said, referring to her score.
“I learned a lot with putting and on my short game and when you start to learn more about the mechanics it helps. Tomorrow I’m going to do exactly the same. Today I focused a lot on my routine.
"I’ve found that over the last couple of tournaments things were a little quicker than what they were so I’ve gone back to what I was doing three years ago when I first came out on tour.”
In her first and most successful year on the LET in 2005, Coakley played in 15 events and finished 29th in the rankings. Following five events played in 2008, she is placed 91st on the New Star Money List. A few more rounds in the 60s this week would see that improve considerably.
Hall, who finished third in the Swiss event in 2006, currently leads the New Star Money List after a victory at the ANZ Ladies Masters and she kept her momentum going with seven birdies and two bogeys.
“Well, 2006 kind of set me off playing competitively again so I have good memories from here and it’s nice to come back. It was nice playing with Suzann and Amy and we all ended up shooting five-under but in different ways and that’s golf. I look forward to playing with them again tomorrow and having another shoot out,” she said
FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72
63 Rebecca Coakley (Irl)
67 Marina Arruti (Spa), Ludivine Kreutz (Fra), Suzann Pettersen (Nor), Lisa Hall (Eng), Amy Yang (Kor), Paula Marti (Spa), Anais Maggetti (Swi)
68 Nikki Garrett (Aus), Ursula Wikstrom (Fin), Nicole Gergely (Aut), Ana B Sanchez (Spa)
69 Veronica Zorzi (Ita), Iben Tinning (Den), Marjet Van Der Graaff (Ned), Georgina Simpson (Eng), Laura Davies (Eng), Kirsty S Taylor (Eng), Katharina Schallenberg (Ger)
70 Rebecca Huber (Swi), Dana Lacey (Aus), Rebecca Hudson (Eng), Bronwyn Mullins-Lane (Aus), Lydia Hall (Wal), Laurette Maritz (Rsa), Kiran Matharu (Eng), Sophie Sandolo (Ita), Anja Monke (Ger), Gwladys Nocera (Fra), Anna Tybring (Swe), Maria Verchenova (Rus)
71 Caroline Rominger (Swi), Vittoria Valvassori (Ita), Natalie Claire Booth (Eng), Nathalie David-Mila (Fra), Emma Cabrera-Bello (Spa), Melissa Reid (Eng), Felicity Johnson (Eng), Marianne Skarpnord (Nor), Samantha Head (Eng), Anne-Lise Caudal (Fra), Rachel Bell (Eng), Lee-Anne Pace (Rsa), Amanda Moltke-Leth (Den), Marta Prieto (Spa), Lynn Kenny (Sco), Martina Eberl (Ger), Becky Brewerton (Wal), Lotta Wahlin (Swe), Ellen Smets (Bel)
72 Laura Terebey (USA), Laura Cabanillas (Spa), Johanna Westerberg (Swe), Cecilia Ekelundh (Swe), Fame More (Eng), Caroline Afonso (Fra), Bettina Hauert (Ger), Titiya Plucksataporn (Tha), Joanne Mills (Aus), Tania Elosegui (Spa)
73 Mianne Bagger (Den), Mette Buus (Den), Natascha Fink (Aut), Ana Larraneta (Spa), Asa Gottmo (Swe), Federica Piovano (Ita), Diana Luna (Ita), Lynn Brooky (Nzl), Isabella Maconi (Ita), Kate Combes (Aus), Stefanie Michl (Aut), Elin Ohlsson (Swe), Karen-Margrethe Juul (Den), Jade Schaeffer (Fra), Clare Queen (Sco), Henrietta Zuel (Eng), Denise-Charlotte Becker (Ger)
74 Stefania Croce (Ita), Stephanie Arricau (Fra), Lisa Holm Sorensen (Den), Martina Gillen (Irl), Itziar Elguezabal (Spa), Jenna Wilson (Sco), Eva Steinberger (Aut), Anna Knutsson (Swe), Emma Zackrisson (Swe), Trish Johnson (Eng), Anna Rossi (Ita), Julie Greciet (Fra)
75 Danielle Masters (Eng), Stacy Lee Bregman (Rsa), Lara Tadiotto (Bel), Kaisa Ruuttila (Fin), Jehanne Jail (Fra), Anne Norman Hansen (Den), Lora Fairclough (Eng), Karen Lunn (Aus), Joanne Morley (Eng), Florence Luscher (Swi)
76 Olof Maria Jonsdottir (Ice), Eleanor Pilgrim (Wal), Sara Beautell (Spa), Cherie Byrnes (Aus), Melodie Bourdy (Fra), Elisabeth Esterl (Ger), Maria Boden (Swe), Beatriz Recari (Spa), Elizabeth Mckinnon (Nzl), Frederique Seeholzer (Swi), Lill Kristin Saether (Nor), Nora Angehrn (Swi), Sophie Walker (Eng)
77 Christine Hallstrom (Swe), Margherita Rigon (Ita), Leah Hart (Aus), Fanny Vuignier (Swi)
78 Cassandra Kirkland (Fra), Kathryn Imrie (Sco), Frances Bondad (Aus), Julie Tvede (Den)
79 Camille Fallay (Fra)
80 Jo Clingan (Eng)
81 Rui Yokomine (Jpn)
83 Denise Simon (Ger), Xonia Wunsch (Spa), Sofia Renell (Swe)