Olivia Cowan (GC St. Leon-Rot) has won the ASGI Swiss Ladies Open in Gams-Werdenberg (Switzerland). The player of Golf Team Germany (GTG) beat the competition with a total of 207 strokes (71, 67 and 69) and won her first tournament on the Ladies European Tour Access Series (LETAS). This puts the 19-year-old amateur in second place in the LETAS Order of Merit. The top five players will receive a tour ticket for the Ladies European Tour at the end of the year.
“For me, it was no different than at the amateur tournaments. As always, I started the day pretty relaxed and just wanted to play a good round of golf again. I didn’t think about the final result or what it would feel like to win again, especially a LETAS tournament. I just wanted to go out, have fun and play my game”, said the beaming winner on the evening of her biggest success so far.
Cowan had entered the final round in the last group of matches, together with Icelandic Olafia Kristinsdottir and German Nicole Gögele. The Icelander had started the 5,433-metre long par 72 course with a lead of two strokes over the two Germans. But after only two holes this advantage was used up after Cowan had opened with two birdies. Kristinsdottir struggled on the final day and fell back to fifth place with a 75 round.
Cowan, on the other hand, played very confidently, especially from the tee, which was also praised by national coach Stephan Morales: “Olivia Cowan currently only sees landing zones on each course. This is really strong and the whole picture of her is just round.”
On the final day Olivia Cowan lost the two shots from the opening round with two bogeys on the first half round, but she made a clean backnine with three birdies and left Kym Larratt (England/210), Ainil Bakar (Malaysia/210) and Azelia Meichtry (Switzerland/210), who shared second place, no chance. The former squad and European Tour player Gögele did not manage to get the best of the final round after two very strong rounds of 69 strokes each, signed a 76 and ended up in tenth place. The other five German women who competed in Switzerland, including the three GTG players Isabell Gabsa, Karolin Lampert and Franziska Friedrich, failed at the cut after two rounds.
After this triumph, Cowan’s season planning changes only slightly. However, the GTG player will not be competing in the International Amateur Championship of Germany, which will be held in Mülheim at the end of May, but will instead try to underpin her good starting position at the LETAS tournament in Sweden.
