Seventh heaven for Savannah

Savannah De Bock survived an epic seven-hole Final Qualifying play-off, that took place across two days, to seal her place in the AIG Women’s Open.

The Belgian amateur was one of 13 players left to battle it out at Hankley Common on Monday evening for the final five spots at Walton Heath.

Mi Hyang Lee birdied the first extra hole to seal her progress, and was soon followed by Hayley Davis, Kelsey Bennett and world number one amateur Ingrid Lindblad.

The fifth place took a little longer to finalise with De Bock, Maddie Szeryk, Wichanee Meechai, Emma Allen and Lottie Woad still left in play.

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Allen and Woad bogeyed the third extra hole and were eliminated, leaving the remaining three to trade blows in the fading light. Meechai bogeyed the fifth extra hole to end her chances, but pars for De Bock and Szeryk meant the play-off would go on.

However, as the night closed in, it was simply too dark to continue and the pair had to return on Tuesday morning, with De Bock eventually prevailing on the seventh extra hole.

She said: “I'm so excited. I'm really, really glad I get to qualify and I'm just so excited for the rest [of the week].

“I think I managed the play-off quite well and I'm really proud of myself.”

Meanwhile, in regulation play, Chloe Williams stormed into the AIG Women’s Open after sinking three birdies and an eagle on the last six holes on Monday afternoon.

The Welsh golfer topped the leaderboard on five-under-par, one stroke clear of Frenchwoman Emma Grechi and America’s Gina Kim.

Williams said: “It was a really good day for me. I had a couple of breaks which went my way, but you need that in a shoot-out like this.

“I knew the par-5s would play to my advantage so I stayed patient and took my chances when they arrived.”

Kim, who featured in the Chevron Championship earlier this year, was level par at the turn, but a chip-in birdie on 10 lit the touchpaper for a four-under back nine.

Wei-ling Hsu, Daniela Darquea, Kylie Henry and Irish amateur Anna Foster also made it to Walton Heath with three-under-par scores of 69.

The AIG Women’s Open, the final major of the year, takes place from Thursday 10 August until Sunday 13 August.

Ashleigh Buhai is the defending Champion after her play-off victory over In Gee Chun at Muirfield last year.