England’s Cara Gainer secured her first Ladies European Tour (LET) victory after defeating India’s Diksha Dagar in a playoff at Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.
Related: Shannon Tan rides strong Round 2 to surge ahead
Going into the final day, only a two-shot difference separated the top 10, making it a tight leaderboard with lots of players in contention to win the season opener.
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Since turning pro in 2020, Gainer started the day in T5 and produced a solid final round of 69 (-4) at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam. This marked her third visit to the tournament having previously come T30 in 2024 and T49 in 2023. The maiden LET winner will take the full 500 points to sit top of the Order of Merit.
The 29-year-old rolled in birdies on holes two, four, and eight, before another three off the bounce on the back nine. She dropped her only two shots of the day on the front nine.
“First tournament back of the year, you can’t really ask for any better,” said Gainer. “I was aware when we started how many people were in with a shout, but I knew there’s a lot of good players. I knew people were going to be shooting low scores, so I just wanted to keep in my own bubble, and I thought if I had shot, maybe three or four under, there could be a chance. Then, when I started to birdie the last few, I thought hold on a minute, this could really be real.”
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Talking about her final round, the 29-year-old said: “I missed short putts on 11, 12, 13, and 14 which were all makeable putts, so was getting frustrated. Then we got to the par-five, where my caddy [Seb Brock] and I said we could still win this if we birdie. Then from there I just kept racking them up, hitting really great iron shots, with straight up the hill putts so that was great.”
Gainer had her fiancé Seb Brock on the bag this week. She continued: “He’s come with me to caddy this week. It’s really special to have him here and celebrate my first win with me.”
During the offseason, she analysed last season. Gainer had a bit of wrist injury during 2024 so was a tricky year but focused on what she needed to do to hit the perfect shot during the break.
Diksha came just short in the playoff to claim second place at the season opener. This still makes a very good start to Dagar’s 2025 campaign, which saw her also set the clubhouse record on -9 with a stunning final round of 67 (-6).
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Having started the day in T14, she made seven birdies across the last 18 holes, and dropped her only shot of the day on hole 14.
The 24-year-old has two LET victories to her name and will also be playing in next week’s PIF Saudi Ladies International, along with Gainer.
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Sweden’s Kajsa Arwefjall finished the highest rookie and marks a solid start to her first LET season. The Swede clinched LETAS Order of Merit winner and Rookie of the Year last year so will be one to watch.
Shannon Tan, who came into the final round with a one-shot lead, finished eight-under par after 54 holes. The Singaporean, who won the season opener last year in Kenya, had back-to-back birdies on the 11th and 12th holes, with a further birdie on 15. The 20-year-old dropped two shots on the front and back nine to finish in third place in a close leaderboard.
