French teenager Louise Landgraf seals back-to-back Flogas Irish Women’s Amateur Open wins

BACK-TO-BACK CHAMP: Louise Landgraf with the Flogas Irish Women's Amateur Open Championship trophy. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

French teenager Louise Landgraf made it back-to-back wins in the Flogas Irish Women’s Amateur Open Championship as she came from behind in Newlands.

The 17-year-old Kempferhof Golf Club Plobsheim star trailed Jessica Ross (Clandeboye) by three shots early in the round but battled back to seal the title again.

Landgraf, who is No 50 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, carded a final round 72 (-1) to end the tournament on three-under-par, one stroke clear of Ross after a dramatic two-shot swing on 18.

Speaking afterwards, Landgraf shared her delight at winning consecutive titles and appeared proud of overcoming the challenging conditions in Dublin this week.

"It feels amazing, I'm still letting it all sink in, but I'm really happy with how I played and how I managed my game in this weather, just keeping myself in contention these last two days," said Landgraf.

The 2025 Champion didn't have everything go her way, as a bogey on the third threatened to derail her chances, but a credit to her champion's mentality as she was able to regroup before carving out her route to victory.

"At one point I completely lost it. I just told myself I need to focus on how I am playing. At the end of the day if I hadn't won or if something bad turned out, I just wanted to be able to look back at this round and tell myself I did my best. I'm glad I was able to do that," said Landgraf.

Reigning Flogas Irish Girls’ Amateur Open Champion, Olivia Costello (Roscommon), made her move early and she got to one-under to put herself back into contention. A second round 78 meant Rebekah Gardner (Clandeboye) had work to do, but she had a fast start too and moved to three-under for her round.

However, up front the leading trio were still the ones to catch and especially Ross, who began with three pars before a superb birdie on the Par 3 fourth, which she followed with another on the fifth. The rain began to fall and when the conditions cleared Ella Butteriss (Beaconsfield) suffered back-to-back bogeys to drop back to level-par alongside Costello which took the English golfer out of contention.

This year’s Portugese Amateur winner, Landgraf looked like the biggest danger. She had a steady front nine, bouncing back from that bogey on the third with birdies on five and eight. The lead was just two and Landgraf was millimetres away from a closing birdie at the end of her front nine that would have left the minimum between the leaders.

Nevertheless, Ross’ disappointing bogey on the tenth reduced the lead to just one and she had a bogey on 11 too, to leave things all square at the top, on three-under-par. A poor pitch shot on 14 from last year's champion opened the door for Ross and she retained her one-shot lead, which then became two on the very next hole.

Landgraf’s chances looked to have faded but a stunning approach at the Par 5 17th resulted in a crucial birdie, meaning the gap was only one heading to the last. On 18, Landgraf split the fairway off the tee whilst Ross found herself caught up in the trees on the left, with her only option being to pitch out and get herself back in play. Landgraf stepped up with fairway wood in hand and slung a beautiful draw onto the green, setting up another eagle chance and immediately turning the momentum back in her favour.

The pressure was on Ross to follow suit with her third, but her approach found the left greenside bunker, meaning a difficult sand save would be required to keep her title chances alive. Landgraf rolled her eagle putt up to the hole and tapped in for birdie, forcing Ross to have to hole her par putt after an impressive recovery from the bunker. A tough left-to-right sliding putt proved to be the difference as Ross' ball veered to the right early without threatening the cup, and Landgraf was crowned champion once again.

Landgraf has repeated the feat of Scotland's Lorna McClymont, who in 2023 completed back-to-back Flogas Irish Women's Amateur Open Championship wins at Woodbrook after her win the previous year at County Louth.