Australia’s Hannah Reeves birdied the fourth sudden-death play-off hole on the par-5 17th to clinch her first LET Access Series (LETAS) title at the Pitch 15 Open over Ellen Hume.
Both players parred the first three play-off holes on hole 18, before Reeves hit her second shot green-side and two-putted for birdie while Hume made par.
It was a thrilling finale after both Reeves (68) and Hume (69) finished on 11-under by birdieing their final regulation hole at Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel & Country Club.
“I’m actually just shocked at the moment,” Reeves said. “I didn’t think I was going to win until that little one-footer on the last. Anything can happen so I was just staying in the moment.
“This is really special. For my first season over here in Europe, this is my first time playing on Access this season, so super special to have won in my first season.”
“I feel like I played so well today, it was a really up and down day. I wasn’t quite sure where I was sitting on the leaderboard.
“But to then play in a play-off like that, yeah, it was nerve-racking. But yeah, it was so much fun. I just tried to stay patient and just keep hitting shots and keep committing to it.
“There’s obviously so much more nerves and pressure that you’re going through. So just really committing to the shots in front of me, which I really did on 17 (the fourth play-off hole), I’m happy about.”
To get into the play-off, Reeves sunk a mammoth 30-footer birdie putt on the par-4 18th which ultimately proved to be the difference.
“That was probably the best putt I’ve ever hit, and to have some of my friends behind the green, that was really cool.”
Starting the final round one stroke behind Hume, Reeves surged into contention after a three-hole birdie stretch from holes 9 to 11.
“I think I played really well yesterday, a bit better than the first day,” she said. “So I was just wanting to do the same thing. Hit it on as many fairways and greens as I could, and then hope for some putts to drop, which a couple did and a couple didn’t, but I feel like I did a really good job out there today.”
The Aussie, who will earn a winners’ cheque of €8,000, was competing in just her fifth LETAS event, having already recorded two top-15 finishes and one top-25 finish this season.
She had been competing on the WPGA Tour of Australasia before venturing to Europe to compete on the Ladies European Tour and LETAS this year.
Reeves, who also had her friend and former professional golfer Stephanie Na on the bag caddying for her this week, will be jetting back to Australia for some well-earned time off.
She added: “I’ll kind of take a week or so off, and then I’ll look to come back and finish the season. We’ll see what’s planned. Not too many celebrations with an early flight tomorrow.”
Hume held a one-shot lead for majority of the back nine until she bogeyed the par-3 16th after pulling her tee shot left of the pin.
Czechia’s Tereza Zapletal Kozeluhova, who finished in solo third on nine-under overall, was also in the mix after firing a final round two-under 70 but eventually ran out of holes.
Eight players finished a further two strokes back at six-under for the tournament, including Spain’s Elena Melich Sanchez (67), South Korea’s Yunjin Jang (68), Isle of Man’s Ana Dawson (68), English duo Chantal El Chaib and Lianna Bailey (both 71), Netherlands’ Anne-Sterre den Dunnen (72), Switzerland’s Natalie Armbruester (73) and Wales’ Luca Thompson (73).
The LETAS season continues next week in Malehide, Ireland at the July 29-31 Women’s Irish Challenge where Anne-Charlotte Mora will return to defend her title.
Keep up with all the action on the LETAS on our socials – @LETAccess on Instagram and X and LET Access Series on Facebook.
