Five professional domestic golfers made the cut at the fifth edition of the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open and will play in Sunday’s Ladies European Tour final at Royal Beroun Golf Club with a prize of €300,000.
While Sara Kouskova, Tereza Koželuhová, and Tereza Melecka were assured of advancing as soon as they finished Saturday’s second round, Patricia Macková and Klara Davidson Spilková had to wait anxiously for the advancement threshold to move.
The latter reached the total par during the day, and 68 golfers advanced.
Sara Kouskova repeated Friday’s 69 shots, but this time in a much smoother style, with three birdies and no bogeys, and is tied for 6th overall at -6 before the final round. Tereza Kozeluhova (-3) made it into the top 30, although she scored three extra shots early in the round. Birdies on 17, 2, and 7 set her back, and even a bogey on eight made no difference to the Beroun club member’s progress, although her 73 shots were five more than on Friday.
The third certainty was Tereza Melecka, who improved by five strokes compared to Friday’s 74. The round’s 69 (-3) included five birdies and two bogeys.
However, the oldest and, on the contrary, the youngest professional prepared proper drama for herself and the home fans.
Klara Davidson Spilkova, playing her tenth career LET home tournament overall, was still four holes away from the predicted cut (par) by three shots. She then made a fantastic run and played a hat-trick of birdies from six to eight to finish the round with a par.
Patricia Macková, playing only her third professional tournament and her first on the LET, was erasing the deficit from the beginning of the round on Friday. She made three birdies by the seventh hole and then had eight pars in a row before a minor disaster on the 16th. Her second shot ended up in an unplayable position, plus a three-putt came, resulting in a triple-bogey 7. Mack had to play an unconditional birdie on the last hole to hope for a cut. She sent her third shot over the water onto the green and scored with one putt for a final 71.
Three tournament winners on the LET missed the cut by a shot: Shannon Tan (Singapore), Johanna Gustavsson (Sweden), and Laura Beveridge (Scotland), fourth in Beroun last year thanks to a tied-record 63 in the final round.
The other Czechs were far from the cut: +5 for Shideri Vana and amateur Sofie Hlinomazova, +6 for last year’s winner Jana Melichova and Katerina Vlasinova, and +7 for another amateur, Lucie Vachova. Ten shots on the five-pair-five knocked Kristýna Napoleaová out of the game (+9 overall).
Leading the tournament before the final round is England’s Hannah Screen with minus-9 (67-68), who leads by a shot over Marta Martin (Spain), Caroline Hedwall (Sweden), and Chloe Williams (Wales). After equalling the course record (63) on Friday, Williams played ten more shots on Saturday.
Sara Kouskova will go in the third fling from the end. The first flight of the final will start at 8:45 a.m. on Sunday. Live coverage on OS TV Sport starts at 11:00.