Ladies European Tour Order of Merit: Esther Henseleit wins first title

Esther Henseleit won her first professional victory at the Skafto Open in June Magical Kenya Ladies Open final leaderboard-14 E Henseleit (Ger); -13 Å Ashok (Ind); -11 J Engstrom (Swe); -6 C Woods (USA); -5 A Vayson de Pradenne (Fra) Selected others: -3 G Dryburgh (Sco); Level K Henry (Sco)

Esther Henseleit, Germany, achieved her first Ladies European Tour Order of Merit title by achieving a track record to win the Magical Kenya Ladies Open.

The 20-year-old started the final round seven shots at overnight leader Julia Engstrom of Sweden.

But an eight-under-par 64 saw Henseleit finish 14 at Vipingo Ridge, a shot for India & # 39; s Aditi Ashok, while Engstrom played a 74 to finish third.

Henseleit was also named Ladies European Tour rookie of the year.

"Closing the season with a win is the best feeling I could imagine," she said.

"Being the Order of Merit winner and rookie of the year is simply incredible."

The victory at the inaugural event in Kenya saw her Marianne Skarpnord catch up in Norway and end the year as European number one, while Austria Christine Wolf came in third.

Henseleit is the first German to win the Order of Merit or rookie of the year and is only the third golfer to win both in the same season, after the English Laura Davies in 1985 and the Spanish Carlota Ciganda in 2012.

She started with five birdies in the first nine holes on trail 2018 rookie of the year Engstrom, 18, by only two shots at the turn.

Henseleit saw another three birdies and a series of three pars to finish, while Engstrom ended up with two birdies and four bogeys to close at 11 under, three shots at Henseleit.

England Meghan MacLaren was the highest ranked British player in the order of merit in fifth place.

Starting next year, the ladies European Tour Order of Merit will be named Race to Costa del Sol, with a bonus prize fund of 250,000 euros (£ 210,000) distributed among the three best finishers.