By Matt Smith
At the age of 39, Liz Young finally claimed her first title on the Ladies European Tour thanks to a final round of 69 at the Swiss Ladies Open.

The second round was completed early on Saturday morning with Young holding a one-shot lead heading into the final round.

Despite a bogey on the first, Young bounced back with birdies on the third and seventh holes to put her firmly in contention before she got a stroke of luck on the 10th to save par.

Two further birdies on 11 and 14 gave the 39-year-old a two-shot lead with four holes to play and a par on the last was enough for her to seal victory on 12-under.

“I can’t believe it right now. I’ve been out here a while and haven’t had the win yet, so to do it here in Switzerland is just fantastic,” she said.

“On the 10th, I hit a good drive off the tee, and it just ran through the fairway into the rough so I couldn’t lift, clean and place and there was a big chunk of mud on the ball. I thought I had got to go for it, it was only a hybrid in my hand and unfortunately the mud curved it millimetres from out of bounds, so I salvaged the par from that and then hit a nice shot on 11 to get the birdie there instead.

“I tried to keep in the moment, I didn’t look at scoreboards and I asked Christine [Wolf] — my friend — on 18 what the situation was because I wanted to keep in the moment and play every shot as best as I can, and we would see what happen.”

In her 14th season on Tour, Young has had a solid 2022 with two top-10s and two further top-15 finishes, and she knew her game was trending in the right direction.

“I did feel it coming, I knew my game was good,” she continued. “In Sotogrande (at the Aramco Team Series) I didn’t play well, and I was burnt out, I took two weeks off which I needed and got my game back in shape. I knew my game was coming together and I was getting better and better – that’s why I’m still out here.

“I said I’d keep playing as long as I enjoy it and as long as I keep getting better — 14 years later we’re here. I hope my daughter is watching. I have been out here a while and never really been close to the win, but I’ve had some good results in strong field events. To finally get across the line is… yeah.”

Four-time LET winner Linn Grant finished second at Golfpark Holzhausern in second place after a final round of 69 took her to 11-under.

The Swedish star started strong with birdies on three and five but then dropped shots on eight and 14 to put her back to level-par for the day.

However, the 23-year-old rallied towards the end of her round with three consecutive birdies on 15, 16 and 17 but was unable to find another on the last and finished with a total of 11-under-par.

“I feel like I was so grumpy the whole day, I did what I was supposed to do,” Grant said. “I didn’t quite get close to the pins and whenever I had a short putt it was just past and close to the hole.

“I’m happy for Liz and I’m OK with not making a birdie on the last hole. I think that going out and shooting seven-under with no preparation, I went out with a very chilled feeling, and I think I tried too hard the second day and I tried too hard today.”

After her second-place finish, Grant now overtakes compatriot Maja Stark in the 2022 Race to Costa del Sol and sits at the top of the rankings. She added: “We’ll see if Maja manages to come back, or I’ll see her at the LET finale.”

England’s Rosie Davies ended the tournament on 10-under-par in third place — her best-ever result on the LET — after a final round of 70.

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