Hakkarainen finally secures maiden victory on European Tour

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Riikka Hakkarainen became only the second Finnish woman golfer (after Minea Blomqvist in 2004) to win a Ladies European Tour event, after she took top honours in the Tenerife Ladies Open played over the Abama course in the Canary Islands at the weekend.
      The 28-year-old Hakkarainen, from Espoo, finished on a par total of 288 (73+70+74+71) to beat Spain's Tania Elosequi Mayor by two strokes. The overnight leader going into the final round, Kirsty Taylor of England, had a dreadful last 18, playing 5 over, and she dropped down to joint 3rd place on 291.
     
Hakkarainen enjoyed an up-and-down round on Sunday, taking five birdies and four bogeys for her 71, but she held her nerve in awkward blustery conditions, and collected her first-ever victory on the circuit and a prize of EUR 37,000 that puts her at the head of the LET money-lists. This was only the second event of the new season and the first to be played in Europe itself.
      Quite apart from taking a monkey off her back - she is in her ninth season on the Ladies Tour, and had previously finished second (1999) and third 2002) - the win provides a measure of security and some interesting opportunities for the future.
      Winning a Tour competition automatically guarantees an entry-card to LET events for two years and a place in the Tour's richest event, the Evian Masters. Hakkarainen has also almost certainly booked herself a place in this year's Weetabix British Open, the only fully-sanctioned women's golf major played in Europe.


Links:
  Ladies European Tour

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