Australian golfer Rebecca Artis recorded her first title on the Ladies European Tour with a one-shot victory over home favourite Caroline Hedwall on Sunday at the Helsingborg Open in Sweden.
Hedwall had started the final day with a commanding four-stroke advantage but, in windy conditions, recorded a double-bogey six on the fifth hole, before dropping two more shots at the start of the back nine at the Vasatorp's Tournament Course.
Although the Solheim Cup-winning Swede recovered a stroke on the par-3 17th, Artis had moved to take full advantage with birdies at the seventh and eight.
The 24-year-old from Coonabarabran in NSW picked up three more shots over the closing nine holes, which meant her bogey on the 18th did not prove costly.
She fired rounds of 69, 71, 71 and 69 to post a winning total of 280, eight-under-par.
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Valentine Derrey of France finished third on five-under after a final-round 73, two strokes ahead of South African Lee-Anne Pace, whose three bogeys on the back nine ended her challenge to finish with a 75, while an error-strewn five-over-par final round put paid to the hopes of Denmark's Malene Jorgensen.
There was a vintage round from England's Laura Davies, whose seven-birdie 69 propelled her up from 20th overnight into fifth place.
"It was a great day out there. I played solid golf all day and to walk away with a win is unbelievable," said Artis, who had husband Geoff on the bag. "I just had to go out there and play steady early and see if I could make a couple of birdies early on."
When asked if she was surprised to win, especially in such a high-quality field against three of the world's top 25 players, Artis said: "I'd like to say I'm not surprised. It's a lot of hard work that goes into winning a golf tournament and I'm absolutely delighted.
"I knew that I had to go out there and make some birdies early on and put some pressure on the leaders. I put myself into contention going into the back nine and knew that if the conditions were like they were the first three days and windy, that anything could happen out there. It's not an easy golf course when the wind's up like that, so I just knew that if I could get off to a good start and post some birdies, I could be right in it down the stretch."
The win caps a tremendous six weeks for Artis, during which time she has earned two top-10 finishes.
Artis received a 37,500 euro ($A54,000) first prize cheque and punched her ticket to next week's Evian Championship in France, the final major of the year.
