Belgian veteran Manon De Roey has held her nerve in a Sunday war of attrition to claim her second WPGA Tour of Australasia title at the Australian Women’s Classic at Coffs Harbour Golf Club.

Five years after her win at the Moss Vale Pro-Am, De Roey’s round of 1-under 69 and 9-under total was enough to clinch victory by a stroke from England’s Cara Gainer (68). Seventeen-year-old Thai phenomenon Cholcheva Wongras (70) snared third outright with Aussie Sarah Kemp (74) sharing fourth with Swede Kajsa Arwefjall (66).

On a day in which the Sunday charges came from back in the pack, the stalled leaderboard suddenly burst to life on the final hole of the championship.

Gainer backed up her birdie at the par-5 17th with another on 18 to post 8-under in the clubhouse. De Roey just missed a chance of her own on the right edge on 17 as, in the group ahead, Wongras lipped out for a birdie that would have seen her join Gainer at 8-under.

Unaware of what was going on ahead, it wasn’t until 33-year-old De Roey hit a 54-degree wedge from 94 metres to eight feet that she asked where she stood on the leaderboard.

“I like to look at the leaderboards. I want to know what I have to do,” said De Roey.

“I asked on 15 what the leaderboard was and then on 18 before my putt I also checked.

“It was downhill, down-grain so I wanted to know that I had to just tap it there or make it.”

As the DJ in the adjacent tent played “Celebration” by Aussie rockers Dragon, De Roey stepped in and rolled in her birdie putt dead centre to spark wild celebrations.

Proudly carrying a koala headcover by the name of Norman for the past three years, De Roey now has a second win in Australia to add to her bank of happy memories Down Under.

“I have so many! I’ve been coming here since 2017 or something. I just love coming to Australia,” added De Roey after what is her third Ladies European Tour title.

“I went to the zoo in Dubbo and they had an old koala that they walked every day called Norman. My brother bought me a headcover a few years ago for Christmas and we called it Norman.”

Trailing Kemp (75) by two strokes at the start of the final round, De Roey bounced back from two early bogeys to play the steadiest hand down the stretch.

Kemp’s first miss-step came when she found the water left of the green at the par-4 second, De Roey halving the deficit with a two-putt par.

The pair both made birdie at the par-4 third and walked away with pars after both missed the green at the par-3 fourth.

A three-putt from the back of the fifth green saw De Roey again fall two shots back of Kemp but the Aussie on the comeback trail made double bogey at the par-5 seventh after her third shot bounced off the cart path and went out of bounds.

With De Roey also making bogey, Wongras was suddenly thrust into the outright lead but the blustery winds and challenging greens would keep the front-runners in check.

When De Roey made birdie on seven and Wongras dropped a shot at the par-4 10th, the pair were tied for the lead at 8-under par.

Wongras missed a golden opportunity to claim the outright lead again when she missed a birdie try from close range at the par-4 11th, a bogey at the par-4 13th handing the Belgian the advantage.

It was an advantage she refused to yield, making 10 birdies in succession before closing it out with birdie on the final hole.

Kemp’s tie for fourth was beyond her wildest expectations given the compound fracture she suffered to her right leg just seven months ago.

A final birdie from 18 feet was met by an uproarious cheer from the Coffs Harbour golf fans in attendance as the 39-year-old took another important step forward in her recovery.

“Honestly, the goal was just to see if I could make the cut so it’s exceeded all of my non-expectations,” said Kemp, who will back up for next week’s Women’s NSW Open at Wollongong Golf Club.

“I’d already won this week. I was able to finish the tournament and I proved clearly I can still play golf and that’s the two main objectives.

“It makes me feel really good now going back into the States.”

It was a strong finish too for Aussie headliner Grace Kim, who shot 3-under 67 in the final round to finish tied for sixth with Sara Kouskova (67), Emma Spitz (71) and Darcey Harry (73).

Photo: Tristan Jones/LET