VAVROVA LEADS BY ONE INTO LADIES SLOVAK GOLF OPEN FINAL ROUND

The Slovak golfer, 25, shot an even-par 72 and at one-under overall leads France’s Lauren Holmey (69) by one stroke after Thursday’s second round at the Ladies Slovak Golf Open.

Vavrova remains the only player under-par in the 115-player field.

“I am happy,” Vavrova said. “I was two-over in the front nine, and then I kind of had to do something in the back nine so I shot two-under and it was level par. I’m pretty happy with how I handled the situation.”

“At the beginning I felt a little nervous, I would say. But then I got a little angry and I think the anger helped me switch to a more positive mindset. And yeah, I was just happy that the putts start falling in and it was a good round.”

Two weeks ago, at the Women’s Irish Challenge, Vavrova also held a one-shot lead but slumped to a final round six-over 78 to finish tied-16th.

“I’m very excited,” she said. “It’s special to have all my family and friends and to have my coach on the bag this week. Hopefully all the nerves will go away tomorrow. I mean, I will be nervous, but I just hope I will handle it a little better this time.”

During the morning session, play was suspended at 10am (local time) due to sighting of bears on the course. All players were safely evacuated to the clubhouse.

The wildlife response team was deployed, and play was restarted once it was safe to continue at 11.15am thanks to the swift efforts from promoter Jozef Sotak, staff members of the golf club and the wildlife response team.

As a result, the afternoon tee times were delayed by 1 hour 15 minutes. Vavrova was among those impacted.

“I just came to the course earlier and had lunch, and we actually did some crosswords with the other Slovak girls. I took a little nap before playing, so it actually kind of helped me.”

Photo: Michaela Vavrova by Ivan Kelement.