Beth Allen of San Diego carded three straight birdies down the stretch and shot a course-record-tying 8-under-par 64 to win the inaugural Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open by three strokes over Georgia Hall of England at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in Abu Dhabi.
The 34-year-old Allen, who also won her previous start in the Lacoste Ladies Open de France, pulled away for the third victory of her career on the Ladies European Tour by making birdies on the 15th, 16th and 17th holes.
“It means so much to me,” said Allen, who was a college star at Cal State Northridge.
“It’s so special, no one can take this away from me and I am the only person who can ever say that that I won the first ladies event here. I am really excited to come back next year.
“I have been playing great golf all year so I came in this week really confident. Today I just knew I had to make a lot of birdies because everyone in the last group was so good. … I knew I had to go low. I knew I had a lot of birdies and a bogey, but in the end an 8-under was better than I thought, so I was really happy.”
Allen collected $550,000 and took the top spot in the LET Order of Merit standings ahead of Shanshan Feng of China. If Allen is in the top three at the end of the season, she will earn a spot in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open.
Hall shot 67 to finish second, while Melissa Reed of England closed with a 68 to wind up four shots back in a tie for third with Sarah Kemp of Australia, who finished at 69.
Angel Yin of Arcadia posted a 66 and was eight strokes behind in a tie for fifth with Jessica Karlsson of Sweden and Vikki Laing of Scotland, who both came in at 68.
