Kristyna Napoleaova. Ladies European Tour

Kristyna Napoleaova broke her Ladies European Tour duck with a playoff birdie to win the 2023 Amundi German Masters at Seddiner See Golf & Country Club.

The Czech star was elated to finally bag her first LET win, outlasting England’s Cara Gainer after the pair were locked at the top of the leaderboard on 14-under-par through 72 holes.

They headed back down the 18th for the playoff and it was Napoleaova who rolled in her birdie putt to triumph and become the fourth first-time winner on the LET in 2023.

“It was definitely dramatic, but I don’t think it was just the last hole I think it was pretty much the whole day,” said Napoleaova.

“There was a lot of scrambling and I’m proud we managed to get where we are now and I couldn’t have done it without my great team and caddie. It has been a really good week so far and I hope on the way home we may celebrate it later.”

Dubai’s Chiara Noja continued here sensational season with a T12, eight strokes back of the leaders.

“I was struggling the whole week off the tee and with the irons as you could probably see today,” Napoleaova explained. “But I think the putting was amazing the whole week. That was the main thing, even in the playoff, that got me there and to get the first win.”

Napoleaova was late to the game of golf starting in the summer of 2016 having been a former footballer for AC Sparta Prague when she was younger.

The newly crowned LET winner has also had battles off the golf course recently being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis a few months ago and is amazed to have entered the winner’s circle on Tour.

She added: “I still can’t believe that not even seven years ago, I hadn’t held a golf club and now I’m on the Ladies European Tour and winning an event. It’s amazing and I can’t wait to do another one and especially next week being back home, so hopefully there’ll be a good crowd there.”

England’s Gainer ultimately finished in second after losing in the playoff, having produced a final round of 71 (-1) with three birdies and a double bogey on her scorecard.

Germany’s Sophie Hausmann fired the round of the day with an excellent bogey-free 64 (-8) to finish the tournament with a total of 11-under-par.

“It was fun, of course,” said Hausmann. “I played solid golf all week long and on this course we did see some low scoring and today was the day where I went low. I enjoyed it.

“You have a few friends coming out and you have the Germans cheering and it all comes together and you think let’s make one more and keep going. I had two girls especially who were following me for the last seven holes and they were really going. It was pretty cute and fun to watch, and I hope they will be out there one day.”

Hausmann finished in a tie for third place alongside India’s Diksha Dagar, who carded an even-par round on the final day.

England’s Alice Hewson ended the tournament in fifth place on 10-under-par after a fourth round of 69 .

Spain’s Carmen Alonso, France’s Celine Herbin and Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson finished in a tie for sixth place on eight-under-par and one shot further back was Italy’s Virginia Elena Carta alongside French duo Agathe Sauzon and Nastasia Nadaud.

In the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol, Ashok still leads the standings as she has done since the first event of the season but Spain’s Ana Peláez Trivino is now only 3.47 points behind.

Sweden’s Linn Grant is third with Czechia’s Klara Davidson Spilkova fourth and Germany’s Noja in fifth place.