29-year-old Cara Gainer secured her maiden LET title at the season-opening Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco after fending off India’s Diksha Dagar in a play-off.
On the final day at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, Gainer persevered from her starting place at T5 to win with a sublime 69 at 4-under. She missed putts on four of the back nine holes, but her series of birdies on the 2nd, 4th and 8th holes took her ahead, as well as another three that followed.
Dagar had come ahead from T14, sinking seven impressive birdies of her own in the final round. But the 24-year-old with two previous LET victories under her belt came up just short in the play-off.
“First tournament back of the year, you can’t really ask for any better,” said Gainer afterwards. “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.
“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.”
Dagar’s solo second finish was a strong start nonetheless for the 2025 LET season-opening event. Her final round was especially outstanding for the new clubhouse record on -9 with a 67 (-6). Meanwhile, after starting the round a stroke ahead, Singapore’s Shannon Tan finished in third just one shot adrift.
What is the next event?
The next event on the Ladies European Tour schedule is the PIF Saudi Ladies International taking place between 13-15 February at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia.