Nocera breezes to victory at Clearwater

BY Liz White | ALPG Tour | 2009 New Zealand Women's Open | Round Three | 01 Feb 2009

France’s Gwladys Nocera has mastered cold and windy conditions to win the inaugural New Zealand Open by a commanding six shots at Christchurch’s Clearwater Resort today.

Starting the day on 5 under, Nocera slowly but gradually chased down the leader, Sydney’s Sarah Oh and by the turn, was even with the 20-year-old at 9 under.

It was a stunning display of calm patient golf played under dramatic weather changes. At the start of play there was little breeze and plenty of sunshine. By the 12th hole, the skies were overcast, the temperature had plummeted 10 degrees and the wind had picked up to 30 knots.

Try as they might Australia’s Katherine Hull and Sarah Oh could not match it with the European number one in the trying conditions.

She was more solid on the testing back nine while the others faltered.

At the end of the day, Hull had slipped from 6 under at the start to a 2 under total of 214. She finished equal 2nd with fellow Australians Nikki Garrett and Sarah Kemp along with Korea’s Bobea Park. Oh faded with an eight over 80 to finish at one under and T6th.

Today’s victory was especially satisfying for Nocera who, unlike most golfers, prefers to play in the wind.

“When it is not windy I play too easy and make stupid mistakes, so when it is windy I have to really concentrate and that is why I like it,” she said.

Nocera set up her win on the front nine where she played flawless golf.

“I played really well. The first eleven holes I didn’t miss a shot. I played really consistently and I putted really well,” she said.

“Everything went perfect and after, with the wind, it was so hard and I just tried not to make any mistakes.

“I knew I was going to make bogeys and so was everybody else. It didn’t really matter as long as I didn’t make more than bogeys.”

Katherine Hull was unsettled for most of the day, her bogey start on the 365 m par 4 putting her immediately under pressure. Just like last week, Hull could not get the putter to work, consistently leaving the ball short in the heart of the hole or just shaving the sides.

It was an even more difficult day for Sarah Oh who unexpectedly sacked her caddy after double bogeying the 13th, to slip three shots off the lead.

All week Oh had Clearwater member, 15-year-old James Cadenhead on her bag. She earlier praised his contribution to her two round total of 9 under. But today was a different story.

“I think he was a little nervous out there,” she said.

“I didn’t feel comfortable with him. It wasn’t him, it was just me feeling uncomfortable, he didn’t do anything bad or anything.”

Oh changed to Paul Kim, who had earlier caddied for her friend Jane Kim. But the move did not have the desired effect, with her score plunging from 6 under to 1 under over the next five holes.

“I was just in a bad situation. I didn’t do anything better, but it just calmed me down a bit more.”

Oh had her worst round today and believes a lack of nerves at the start was the reason.

“I think that caused the problem. You need a little nerves to get yourself pumped but I was just too relaxed out there.”

She also found the strong southerly breeze unsettling.

“I couldn’t get myself comfortable over the short putts and I missed a lot of them today,” she said.

Central Coast’s Nikki Garret had one of the rounds of the day, a one under 71. As a member of the notoriously windy Magenta Shores, Garrett said she was able to shape her shots into Christchurch’s bustling breeze.

“That came in handy today for a few shots like when I had a punch four iron in to 15, it definitely came in handy,” she said.

“I am pretty used to those type of conditions.”

Garrett said at the start of the day, sitting on one under, she would not have imagined she would be runner-up.

“No way, not at all,” she said.

“I am just quite happy I played pretty solid today because of the wind.

“I made some silly errors but it is pretty hard to hit good putts when you can’t even stand still on your feet.”

Today’s win was Nocera’s first victory down under after seven years of visits to the southern hemisphere.

“I am very slow,” she joked.

Although delighted to win the inaugural New Zealand Open she has set her sights on a maiden victory in Australia at next week’s ANZ Ladies Masters at Royal Pines.

“I still haven’t won in Australia and I want that,” she said.