Helen Holm Championship: Pretswell comes unstuck at Postage Stamp

Golf Correspondent

Monday 30 April 2012

She teed-off at Royal Troon yesterday hoping to deliver a first home win in the Helen Holm Scottish Open Strokeplay Championship for a decade but Pamela Pretswell's title ambitions came unstuck at the Postage Stamp as Amy Boulden, of Wales, plundered the crown.

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Nick Rodger

The mischievous par-3 has been the scene of many a golfing calamity down the years and its menacing clutches claimed another victim as Pretswell, leading by four shots at the time, racked up a double-bogey and opened the door for the chasing pack.

The 22-year-old from Hamilton eventually carded a two-over 77 for a seven-under 218 and had to settle for a share of third place behind Boulden, who birdied three of the last four holes in a 73 to win by a stroke from Perrine Delacour on 215."Can I go back and play that hole again?" lamented Pretswell, who no doubt wished she could have emulated the earlier hole-in-one at the eighth by Chloe Ryan instead of plunging her tee-shot into the unforgiving left-hand bunker. "That bunker is the one place you can't go on this course and the double-bogey let the others in, but Amy had an awesome finish."Pretswell, one ahead overnight, made a telling early thrust with a 35-footer for birdie on the first and an eagle on the second to extend her advantage but her challenge unravelled around the turn.French teenager Delacour, a former British Girls' champion, pounced on Pretswell's stumble and edged ahead with a birdie at the 11th and an eagle at the 12th but as she parred in, it was Boulden who surged to the front with a late burst which was illuminated by birdies at 15, 16 and 17."This is the biggest win of my career," said the 18-year-old Curtis Cup pick, who was runner-up in the 2010 British Women's Strokeplay. "I knew where I was on the leaderboard coming on to the last few holes and knew I had to go for it."Delacour had a 72 for 216 while Alford's Laura Murray shared third with Pretswell on 218 after a tidy round of 72 of her own.

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Helen Holm Championship: Pretswell comes unstuck at Postage Stamp

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