Nikki Garrett Wins 2007 Tenerife Open

Nikki Garrett, who was last year’s Ryder Cup Wales Rookie of the Year, was the only player in the tournament to finish under par and as a result, she took home a first prize of E41,250.

She now leads the New Star Money List with earnings of E43,222.32 from three tournaments, which means she is the official number one in Europe.

For someone who claims she came into the tournament hitting it badly, she did exceptionally well to be the only player to finish under par for the tournament. Perhaps she had a relaxed mindset as a numerologist in America told Garrett it wasn’t going to be a very good year for her, and so her expectations might not have been as high.

Certainly her early golf education playing windy links style courses in Tuggerah Lakes and more recently Magenta Shores helped her in the windy conditions.

“I thought this year would be a lot harder than last year because I had more expectations on myself. My main goal this year was to win and now I’ve done it so early I don’t know what I’m going to do! I’ll have to sit down and re-assess the situation.” said Garrett in a post round interview.

Garrett made a huge impression in her rookie year in 2006, finishing 12th on the New Star Money List as the highest ranked LET player not to have won a tournament.

Garrett didn’t get off to the best start when she was forced to hit a provisional ball off the first tee. However she immediately gained the outright lead after she found her ball and made a par. Overnight co-leaders, Sophie Sandolo and Becky Brewerton, both bogeyed the hole.

She holed a 12 foot birdie putt at the fourth to move to two under, before dropping a shot at the sixth where she three-putted.

Garrett then hit a monster 310-yard drive on the par-four seventh which left her with only 94 yards to the pin. Striking a low 54 degree wedge perfectly, she landed the ball within nine feet of the hole and rolled in the birdie putt to move back to two-under.

A dropped shot at the ninth still saw Garrett maintaining a two stroke advantage. However she dropped another stroke at the tenth before clawing one back with two putts at the par-five 12th hole.

She missed a short par putt at the 15th, leaving her level with Elosegui, but immediately grabbed the lead back at the 16th by holing an important nine foot birdie putt.

Nerves started to show on the 17th when Garrett hit a three-wood off the tee and her ball landed in a waste area under the palm trees on the left side of the fairway. Yet she played a little nine-iron onto the green and safely two putted for par, giving herself a two shot buffer standing on the 18th tee. A regulation par there was enough for the two shot victory, with Johnson and Elosegui already in the clubhouse and with it, Garrett earned herself a three year exemption to the Ladies European Tour.