It was a dream week for Alexandra Försterling as she won the 2024 Amundi German Masters after a dramatic playoff at Golf & Country Club Seddiner See.
The Berlin native sunk her birdie putt on the second playoff hole to defeat close friend Emma Spitz and secure her fourth LET title, which have all come in her last 11 starts. Having not played on the LET since her victory in Tampa, it also means Försterling has now won in her last two starts on the LET in 2024.
“I am honestly completely speechless,” said the German star. “After I saw the putt drop, I was like oh my god. I would never have expected it. It really feels great. It honestly feels like a dream, I just never expected it, and it feels so amazing!”
The final round saw an intense battle with Försterling and Austria’s Spitz going head-to-head on the golf course as they started the day as joint-leaders on seven-under-par. It was the German who went ahead with a birdie on the second, but then Spitz rolled in back-to-back birdies on holes three and four, while Försterling made a bogey on the fourth.
The momentum swung back towards the German with birdies on six, seven, 13 and 14 but Spitz wasn’t finished yet. She also made a birdie on 13 and followed that up with a birdie on 16 before nearly making an ace on the 17th leaving her a tap-in birdie.
As the duo headed down the last, Spitz had a one-shot lead but Försterling stiffed her second shot to leave a tap-in birdie of her own and have the scores level at 12-under-par after 72 holes. The friends then headed back to the 18th and they both made birdies on the first playoff hole before Försterling rolled in her birdie on the second playoff hole to become the first German to win on home soil on the LET.
“I hit it to tap-in birdie on 18 which was nice,” Försterling explained. “It was such a great battle. Emma hit some beautiful shots, the one on 17 was really crazy and left me speechless. I tried to do the same on 18 and it worked. Even in the playoff, we hit so many nice shots and hit it so close to the pin. It was amazing.
“It was still friendly, we’re such good friends and playing against her was really nice. It’s tough to describe. I know how hard she works, and I really see this is coming in a good way for her. It was a lot of fun.”
It was a great final day for Spitz who went bogey-free and came close to securing her maiden LET title. The Austrian explained: “It’s been a crazy day. It’s been amazing and of course, I would have loved to win. It’s been incredible and this is where I want to be, and I really hope that I can get that win soon.
“I’m really proud of how I handled myself coming down the stretch, in the past I have struggled a little bit in final rounds and to play like this especially at the end, I’m really happy about it. At the beginning of the week, Alex and I were joking about playing in the final group together. To then play in a playoff is crazy, if we were to make a movie out of it, we couldn’t make it any better.
“She is an incredible player and I know that under pressure she has been insane over the last months. I know that if I wanted to win it had to be my best and it was very close to my best, but still not enough. I feel very good about it, it’s emotional but I’m still happy.
“So many of the girls that I played in college with like Rose [Zhang], Linn [Grant] and Maja [Stark] and Alex. I have seen them win and I wouldn’t say I had lost confidence, but I was struggling a little bit, and it was not always easy. This shows me that I can do the same.”
England’s Gabriella Cowley had another excellent day shooting a six-under 66 to finish in outright third place on 10-under-par.
“I played great today and I played great yesterday,” said Cowley. “I gave myself a good chance of winning, I hit some really good putts that just didn’t go in. It’s tough, but the way that I’ve hit the ball especially after struggling a lot last week in Korea, to turn that around and to have my dad here. He really helped me this week to be honest, we grinded on Tuesday just to get the swing back to where we wanted it.
“I played well all four days, the second day was just tough in the wind. I didn’t hole too many putts the first two days, but I holed some great putts over the weekend. I gave myself a great chance and have come up close again.”
Germany’s Laura Fünfstück produced the round of the day firing a 64 (-8) to finish in a tie for fourth place alongside Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley, who carded a 65 (-7).England’s Eleanor Givens and Slovenia’s Ana Belac ended the week in a tie for sixth place on seven-under-par. Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson, France’s Nastasia Nadaud and Ireland’s Lauren Walsh rounded out the top 10 in a share of eighth place on six-under-par.
In the LET Order of Merit, Försterling moves up to second place and has 1,175.42 points just 46.73 points leader Bronte Law. England’s Cowley and Austria’s Spitz have also jumped into the top 10 in the standings with Cowley in eighth with 628 points and Spitz in 10th with 494.85 points.
After tomorrow’s U.S. Women’s Open Qualifier, next up for the LET is the Jabra Ladies Open which will take place 23-25 May at Evian Resort Golf Club.
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