Davis finishes as European number one for seventh time

Dubai: Gwladys Nocera's bid to wrest the European number on spot from the legendary Laura Davies came to naught when she could only finish joint 14th in the Dubai Ladies Masters which ended yesterday.

The Frenchwoman, who has won three titles on the tour this year, needed a victory in Dubai to overtake Davies at the top of the Ladies European Tour's New Star Money list.

She earned Euro 8,500 to take her earning for the season to Euro 415,020 from 17 events. Davis, who has played in 11 events on the tour, earned Euro 471,727 to finish as the European number one for the seventh time in her 21-year career.

"It feels great. I've had to work hard all summer and obviously it's a nice way to cap the season," Davies told the Ladies European Tour via telephone from Korea yesterday.

"I just had to hope Gwladys wouldn't win this week. But considering the field, Annika sorenstam was always going to be hard to beat."

Nocera finished strongly yesterday when she shot a three-under 69 but earlier rounds of 71, 73 and 72 did not help her cause.

"It's obviously been disappointing this week. But I could not pull my game together," said the Frenchwoman who is tipped as a future star.

"It was a tough call with such a strong field, including Annika (Sorenstam) and Karrie (Webb) also playing here, but I was hopeful of playing some good golf."