Hole-in-one icing on the cake for Caithness in Dutch Open

SCOTLAND'S Krystle Caithness enjoyed a day to remember when she had a hole-in-one in a final-round 68 and finished a career-best second on the Ladies' European Tour at the ABN-Amro Ladies' Dutch Open at Broekpolder yesterday.

England's Florentyna Parker, the overnight leader, clung on to win her first LET title. The 20-year-old matched the birdie 4 of Caithness on the final hole for a 70 and won by two shots on nine under par.

Caithness began the final round in joint sixth place and four shots behind Parker, but bounded up the leaderboard with the help of five birdies and the hole-in-one at the fourth, her first ace as a professional.

The St Regulus 21-year-old finished outright second on seven under par, a stroke ahead of South African Ashleigh Simon (68) and France's Virginia Legoutte-Clement.

England's Laura Davies, meanwhile, who was joint second overnight, slipped back to joint seventh after a 74.

A Curtis Cup player in 2008, Caithness is in her second year as a professional and her previous best result on the LET was fifth place at last year's Irish Open. She also won an unofficial tournament, the Dubai Ladies' Pro-am, at the end of last season and was eighth in Slovakia last week. The hole-in-one at the fourth was a first ace in competition for Caithness. She did it by hitting a 7-iron shot from 179 yards.

"My hole-in-one obviously helped my score. It took me from three to five under par," she said. "It's my best finish. I played well and putted well. I'm happy with second and it kind of spurs me on for wanting the first."

Vikki Laing (71) and Lynn Kenny (75) both finished on one over par and in a tie for 22nd place, while Kylie Walker, the former Buchanan Castle amateur, made her first cut from four professional outings and shot a final round 71 to tie for 34th place on two over par. Comrie's Carly Booth missed her first cut from four LET starts. She shot rounds of 74 and 85 to miss out on 15 over par.

After a shaky start, with a three-putt bogey at the first, Parker managed to steady her nerves with a birdie at the par-5 third hole.

She dropped another shot at the fifth after finding the trees off the tee, but picked up another birdie on the sixth, a par 5.

She moved to eight under par and re-established a two-stroke lead with a birdie at the 11th before finishing in style with a two-putt birdie at the par-5 last hole.