By Olawale Ajimotokan
It was not a good start for Georgia Oboh at her maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) after the teenager failed to make the final cut at the Canberra Women’s Classic at Royal Canberra Golf Club in Australia.
But it was Anne Van Dam from The Netherlands that surged home on the final nine to win the Canberra Women’s Classic at Royal Canberra Golf Club by three strokes: her third LET title inside six months and her fourth overall.
Oboh went into the competition with a ray of hope but her debut on LET was not impressive after the Nigerian finished in joint 131 amidst 144field of players on day one to miss out from the cut.
Oboh blamed her poor form to not getting completely comfortable on the greens and her late arrival at the tournament due to long flight delays from South Africa where she competed on the Sunshine Ladies Tour.
The 18-year-old, however, admitted that this was a baptism that will propel her forward and help her adapt to life on the tour.
At a tournament which had some of the best players on the Ladies European Tour including Dame Laura Davies and a host of other past Solheim Cup players, other top players from South Africa who also missed the cut included the winner of the South African Women’s Masters Leján Lewthwaite and long drive champion Phillis Meti from New Zealand.
With this disappointing outing, Oboh now turns her attention to the Women’s New South Wales Open at Queanbeyan, which is just 20 minutes from the venue of last week’s tournament at Royal Canberra Golf Club between March 7 and 10, where the Nigerian hopes to improve on her form.
To emerge winner, van Dam began the day as joint leader on 11 under and dueled with defending champion Jiyai Shin (Republic of Korea) through the back nine before picking up four shots in the final four holes with a final round of six under par 65.
