Class is permanent and Rachel Hetherington showed that with her final round of five-under-par in tough conditions to finish tied fourth in the Oates Victorian Open her first four-day tournament since October 2010.

The eight time LPGA winner carded rounds of 73, 70, 73 and 69 to finish at 8-under-par and five behind eventual winner Norway’s Marianne Skarpnord.  Hetherington’s final round included an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys and was the low round of the day on the Beach Course at 13^th Beach Golf Links.

After her round she was asked about how it felt to be back playing, “Pretty good, anytime you finish a tournament with an under-par round your pretty happy, I played really solid, made some really great putts and all of a sudden four rounds is pretty easy, I’m not as tired as I thought I would be.”

The result wasn’t totally a surprise to the NSW player, “I felt pretty confident with the way I was playing leading into the Club Car Series on the ALPG Tour, I said I wouldn’t play if I didn’t feel I could be in contention, so to finish fourth in my first four round tournament back, I’m very happy.”

“I really enjoyed 13^th Beach this week. It was nice to play really solid and to have a good finish.”

Hetherington will now head to Queensland for the RACV Ladies Masters, where she has had six top 10 finishes during her career.   The cheque this week will go a long way in securing one of the 10 spots available for the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open in two weeks’ time.  Hetherington, who is trying to qualify for one of the 10 spots available through the ALPG.

“I am really looking forward to playing the rest of the Aussie events on the ALPG Tour and play as good as I can, part the reason I am excited to play is because I know it is not an entire year of golf, so I am giving all I’ve got to the events here on the ALPG tour and looking forward to the next few weeks.”