Ladies European Tour Rookie Camille Chevalier surprised by birdies over the last 9 holes and won the Women's Indian Open, her first Tour victory as a professional.

  • Michelle Thompson - © Tristan Jones / LET

The 23-year-old Frenchwoman from Aix-en-Provence scored 5 birdies on the last 8 holes of the Black Knight course designed by Gary Player at the DLF Golf and Country Club. Camille Chevallier signs an impressive final round of 67 (-12), one step ahead of the Scottish Michele Thompson, the leader of the day before.

“I'm really happy because it's my first Tour win as a rookie and it's great. JI am really happy and can't wait to celebrate this with my friends ”, said Camille Chevalier, who becomes the third rookie to grab the title, after Emily Kristine Pedersen and Aditi Ashok, both of which were named Rookie of the Year.

The Frenchwoman, whose best result on the tour was tied for 16th in the Lacoste Ladies Open de France and tied for 17th in Thailand, now occupies first place in the LET Rookies classification and 17th place in the Order of Merit.

Chevalier started the last round three strokes behind Thomson and was in 6th place after eight holes, it was at this point that Thomson built a five stroke advantage. Thomson, however, then made bogeys on the 10th and 11th holes, while Chevalier, who had played the first nine in par, made birdies on holes 11 and 12.

There was a three-hit streak on the 14th, which Thomson doubled and Chevalier managed in a birdie to take the lead at (-10).

Although Thomson made a gain on the 16th, Chevalier made a birdie on the last two holes, depriving Thomson of the 18th.

"I think the last putt was the only time I got nervous Said Chevalier. “At 65 meters I played my 58 degrees above the water. I wanted to take the slope for the ball to come back and luckily it did, about a yard from the flag. "

“I wasn't really touched by anything, because I didn't think I was going to win. I was more worried about keeping my card for LET next year, because I was on the verge of losing it, so I'm really happy to keep it, I was so stressed about it. "

Anne Van Dam, Carlota Ciganda and Sarah Kemp shared third place, three strokes behind. On the French side, Céline Boutier shares 6th place two days after celebrating her 24th birthday, she nevertheless recorded the best result of her career on the European circuit. Thanks to a last card of 70 (-2), Valentine Derrey ended her week in Gurgaon on a high note, taking 13th place at -4. The five other Frenchwomen, who did not fail to congratulate the heroine of the day on the green of the 18th, finished in the second half of the table: Isabelle Boineau (75) finished 38th at +2, Anne-Lise Caudal ( 73) ranked 42nd at +3, Agathe Sauzon (72) and Ariane Provot (74) shared the 44th rank at +4, and finally Justine Dreher (76) had to settle for 52nd position at +6.

In all, four Indian players made the cut in the tournament, which is co-sanctioned between LET and the Women's Professional Golf Association of India. The 2016 champion Aditi Ashok finished tied for 13th and Pravani Urs was the first amateur.

To view the results: click here