Anja Monke wins Dubai Ladies Masters 2008

(This entry was originally published in this blog December 2008 and it is based on the information of that time.)

The Dubai Ladies Masters 2008 had an emotional ending yesterday as Annika Sörenstam finished playing her last professional match. The hall of fame female Swedish golfer tied for the seventh position shooting one under par in round 4. Annika Sörenstam’s total score was 282. On the 18^th hole Annika shot an eight foot birdie putt in a packed gallery of golf fans and her fellow players. Upon finishing, there were whistles and cheers. Annika raised her putter and hugged her caddie, Terry McNamara, who has been with her for the last nine years.

Thirty eight year old Annika Sörenstam had an illustrious carrier of sixteen years. In this time, she won 89 titles including ten major championships which made her one of the most successful female professional golfers of all time. In the Dubai Ladies Masters 2008, Annika Sörenstam was the defending champion. She won the championship in 2006 and 2007. Annika Sörenstam is going to marry Mike McGee in January and start a family and her own business.

Anja Monke, the thirty one year German golfer from Hannover, finished in the first place. This is her second title after the Vediorbis Open de France Dames in late September. In Round-4, Anja Monke shot 4 under par making a total score of 13 under par. dubailadiesmasters.com

“I’m feeling very happy,” said a wet Monke, after being splashed with water by her colleagues and accepting the first prize cheque of EURO 75,000 from Mr Abdullah Kalban, president and CEO of Dubal.

“I mean, I had to play my game no matter what or where the focus is. I just tried to focus on my game and of course I heard the big applause when she was hitting her shot into the 18th green. I was on the 16th green at the time. And then we saw her actually finishing it off on 18. We hit our tee shots by that time and so I could at least see a little bit.”

Monke started with a two shot lead over Denmark’s Iben Tinning. She shot a birdie on the par-4 second hole. There was an intense competition between Anja Monke and Italian golfer Veronica Zorzi but Monke went on and gained two shot lead after shooting three consecutive birdies starting from the 10^th hole. Monke then made a bogey on the 15^th hole but she birdied on the 16^th and finished 17^th and 18^th on par. Veronika Zorzi, who won the Vediorbis Open de France Dames champion two times, finished in the third place with three under par in the final round.

Related articles:

dubailadiesmasters.com

abcnews.go.com