Manon de Roey. ASLI 2023/Oisin Keniry
Manon De Roey may not have triumphed at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International last week, but she certainly left her mark on the tournament, a magnificent nine-under 63 on the final day equalling the the course record at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club to land the Belgian star the biggest pay day of her career.
The 31-year-old clocked up nine birdies on a blemish-free Sunday to soar to a tie for third place alongside Lexi Thompson and Lilia Vu on 19-under and bettered only by tournament winner Lydia Ko (-21) and India’s Aditi Ashok (-20).
De Roey also pocketed $235,000 for her troubles.
“It definitely is [the biggest pay cheque of my career],” De Roey said. “I didn’t really think about it until now, but yeah, it worked out. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the money, but it’s definitely helped. Maybe I can now pay off my mortgage.”
With Thompson equalling the course record on Saturday with a superb performance of her own, De Roey needed an eagle on the last to better the mark. But despite the near-perfect approach shot, the Belgian’s effort unfortunately came up short as she settled for a tap-in birdie.
“I definitely knew I was on for a course record because I left my eagle putt very short,” De Roey admitted. “I was a bit nervous on that putt.
“I had some shaky hands, so I’m happy I hit the green because that was also very nerve-racking. I only had a 7-iron from 191 metres, so I’ll take that. I took a club less because I thought I had some adrenaline going.”
With the 63 , De Roey becomes the fifth player to shoot that score at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, joining Thompson, Stephanie Kyriacou (2020), Lydia Ko (2021) and Kelly Whaley (2022) as the players to achieve the feat.
“I’m super happy,” she said. “My whole game was solid throughout. I think I only had one bad shot, just one drive, so really solid. I just had to look at the putter and it went in.”
