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Sydneysider Sarah Oh held off Katherine Hull for a second straight year to make a tough but successful defence of the NSW Open women's golf title on Sunday. Several players vied for the lead in the final round, which started with just four strokes separating the top 14 players. Oh, 21, fired a bogie-free final round of five under par 67 to finish the three-round tournament on 207, nine under par. Starting the final round one shot behind vastly experienced Laura Davies on Britain, Oh made her move after six holes in soggy and overcast conditions at the Oatlands club. "I started very slowly and made five pars in a row and birdied the sixth and I made a five metre putt on the seventh that got me going," Oh told AAP. She turned up the heat on her rivals with four straight birdies between the sixth and ninth holes. Oh made one more birdie on the 15th to hold out Queenslander Hull, who started the final round level with Oh. American LPGA tour regular Hull also birdied the sixth, seventh and eighth holes and was four under for the front nine, but parred all of the nine remaining holes. The 27-year old Queenslander, who finished three shots behind Oh in last year's NSW open, had to settle for second spot again after a birdie putt on the last slipped just wide and denied her a playoff opportunity. Oh, who was playing the penultimate group, had to wait to see how Hull went in the final threesome before claiming the $15,000 first prize. "This year was tougher to grind out," Oh told AAP after her victory. "I was one behind Laura yesterday and I fought back to win the title." Davis struggled in the conditions and slipped down to joint tenth position after carding a final round 74. Her challenge disintegrated on the back nine on which she made three consecutive bogies from the 11th hole on and a double bogie six on the par four 17th. Tied for third on seven under were Karen Lunn of NSW and Nikki Campbell of the ACT. Campbell fired a tournament course record of 64, including three eagles and five birdies, but blotted her copybook with three bogies, as she finished one place higher than last year. Lunn fired six birdies, a bogie and a double bogie to shoot a third round 69. Oh, who finished fourth on the Australian Order of Merit last year, is likely to return to the Korean secondary tour this year. She finished seventh on that tour in 2009 after recording a sixth in the New Zealand open and top 20 finishers in the ANZ Ladies Masters and Australian Open following her 2009 triumph at Oatlands. Report from smh.com.au | 
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England’s Laura Davies enjoyed the English type weather today to take the lead into the final round of the NSW Women’s Open in Sydney. The former winner of the event took advantage of the better morning conditions to card a 2-under par 70 to finish at 5-under par 139 after 36 holes. Overcast conditions greeted the morning field, with the wind picking up mid way through their round, while the afternoon players contended with strong gusty winds and squally showers making club selection and scoring difficult.
