Nelly Korda overturned a seven-shot deficit and clinched victory in a thrilling renewal of the $1million Aramco Team Series Sotogrande after an extraordinary final day at La Reserva Club.

The World No.3 reined in her sister Jessica – the runaway 36-hole leader – and held strong at the summit to win by three strokes on 13-under-par. Her elder sister, Anna Pelaez and Pauline Roussin shared second spot.

Jessica looked to be in a near-impregnable position at the start of the day, holding a six-shot advantage from Roussin. But she allowed the chasing pack back into the tournament by frittering away shots through the front nine.

Roussin was first to take advantage of Jessica’s problems and grabbed the lead by holing a 15-foot putt on the 10th green.

But the young French star four-putted for a triple bogey at the next where Jessica temporarily stopped the bleeding with a much-needed birdie. It was only a temporary respite for the American, who dropped shots at the 13th and 14th.

And while all this drama had been unfolding, Nelly Korda had been making serene progress, almost unnoticed. She was ten strokes adrift at one stage but three straight birdies from the seventh hole saw her edge into contention.

The reigning Olympic champion repeated the trick from the 12th and all of a sudden she moved to 13-under to grab the lead on her own.

Her position of supremacy never came under serious threat in the closing stages and she finished up shooting 67 – 10 less than Jessica – to secure her second Ladies European Tour title three years after landing the French Open.

Korda, 24, said: “I’m super excited to win, I haven’t won this year, so it feels nice to get a win under my belt but I’m also very sad as it wasn’t the day Jess was expecting.

“I guess we were hoping for a bit more of a battle going down the stretch, but it’s golf and that sometimes happens. I was over par for the majority of the front nine, but I went on a little nice run. Had two turkeys on the scorecard, which was nice.

“I just stuck to it and told myself that there’s a lot of opportunities out there and hopefully I can capitalise on them.”

Some of the biggest cheers of the day were for crowd favourite Pelaez, playing 90 minutes from her home in Malaga. The rising star of Spanish women’s golf battled all the way to end to shoot 69, including a great up-and-down for par at the last, which earned her a runners-up spot finish alongside Jessica Korda and Roussin.

Pelaez said: “I’m very pleased with my game and especially the fight. Today, I think I played great. Minus-3, I think it’s a good score. I was emotionally very stable and finishing with that par on the last hole, I think it helped.  Overall, I’m very happy with the week.”

The next Aramco Teams Series will be staged in New York from October 13-15^th. The final event of the series will take place at Royal Greens Golf Club in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from November 10-12^th. There is a new format this year for the Aramco Team Series, which launched in 2021. For this season, the teams compete over only 36 holes – the Thursday and Friday of the tournament – with $500,000 prize-money being split between the lowest scoring fourballs.

Saturday’s final day of play is contested by only the lowest scoring 60 players and ties from the opening two days, who return to the course to battle it out for a share of another $500,000, this time in individual earnings.

For more information on attending and tickets, visit aramcoteamseries.com or follow the event on social media @aramco_series.

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European Solheim Cup heroes Georgia Hall, Charley Hull and Bronte Law are confirmed for the three-day event, taking place at La Reserva Club in Sotogrande, August 5-7.

They will be joined by their 2019 hero captain Catriona Matthew, with the Scot set to use the Aramco Team Series – Sotogrande’s unique team format to run a keen eye over some of her key players ahead of September’s rematch with the US.

Hall, the 2018 AIG Women’s Open winner who finished fourth in the inaugural Aramco Team Series event in London, said: “I loved the experience in London. Outside the Solheim Cup it’s rare to have an opportunity to play team golf – so not only is this a fabulous innovation for the Tour that’s exciting to continue to be a part of, but it’s also another great opportunity to impress the captain!”

Representing the States in the Aramco Team Series – Sotogrande field will be 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship runner-up and four-time US Solheim Cup player Lizette Salas, who will face stiff competition, with fellow American Alison Lee also in the field, plus Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn, the 2013 LPGA Rookie of the Year, and 2018 LPGA Rookie of the Year, Lindsey Weaver, both competing.

The Aramco Team Series – Sotogrande is the second Aramco Team Series event to take place this year, following its London debut two weeks ago. It precedes both the Aramco Team Series – New York (October 14 to 16) and Aramco Team Series – Jeddah (November 10 to 12), with the Jeddah event taking place just days after the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by Public Investment Fund, being held from November 4 to 7.

Each Aramco Team Series tournament sees 36 captains lead teams of four players, who together compete to shoot the lowest combined score over three days of golf.

All teams feature three LET players paired through a unique draft system, in which captains choose one player and are randomly assigned another. The fourth member of each team is an amateur golfer – a position open to all golfers in Spain for the Aramco Team Series – Sotogrande through the tournament’s world-first Team Up competition.

That means it could fall to an amateur golfer to hole an LET tournament-winning putt to secure prize money for the professional players, a feat unique to world golf.

The Aramco Team Series – Sotogrande will take place from August 5-7 at La Reserva Club, near Marbella. The tournament will adhere to COVID-19 protocols, as well as local and government guidelines.

For more information visit https://aramcoteamseries.com and to register for your FREE ticket, click the link below:

https://bit.ly/3BvPZBK