Starting the day with a one-shot lead over Italian Alessandra Fanali on a congested leaderboard, Rhodes defied nerves in just her fourth Ladies European Tour start with a 2-under 69 final round to reach 17-under and claim the final leg of the WPGA Tour of Australasia co-sanctioned swing. “I mean, it really hasn't sunk in yet … still in shock,” Rhodes said. In what shaped as a head-to-head tussle in the final group, Fanali’s final-day charge was partially stalled by a cold putter. However, she continued to press and eventually signed for a 70 to finish in a share of second with Kirsten Rudgeley (68). Western Australian Rudgeley made a strong start to her final-round challenge with two birdies in five holes, but was ultimately undone by bogeys at the seventh and 10th, while Sara Kouskova of the Czech Republic finished fourth alone. “I mean, it's golf ... I can't be disappointed with the way I played. I played really well,” Rudgeley said. For Rhodes, a standout amateur who played college golf at Wake Forest University and was a member of the Junior Ryder Cup and Curtis Cup teams, the trip to Australia had been a frustrating one until heading south of Sydney. Like all of the traveling players, the disappointment of the cancellation of the Australian WPGA Championship meant some temporary displacement, before Rhodes missed the cut at the Australian Women’s Classic. Her change of fortune in Wollongong led the 23-year-old, who put a slight swing tweak in place this week, to a change of heart for future visits Down Under. “Honestly, before this week, if someone asked me if I'm coming back next year, I'd had said no, but I'm definitely going to change that answer to yes,” Rhodes said. “I'll definitely be back next year, for sure.” It wasn’t all plain sailing on Sunday for Rhodes, who looked supremely impressive early when making birdie at the first and third to extend her lead while showing no outward signs of the nerves the chasing pack would have hoped might appear. “I was definitely still very nervous, but I've learned to deal with these situations. I've been working a lot on breathing and being able to concentrate in the present and stay focused, and it really helped out there, obviously,” she said. After the birdie at the third, Rhodes, who set the course record with a 62 on Friday, went on a 15-hole par streak, as birdie putts lipped out and she saved pars with her short game. The most impressive and important, arguably, was at the 17th when leading by two over Fanali. With the Italian in close with a look at birdie which she would ultimately convert, Rhodes left her tee shot short of the downhill par-3. Her magnificent chip released and nearly caught a piece of the hole, leaving Rhodes with the shortest of tap-ins to set up a walk down the 72nd hole with a one-shot lead. That walk became a little easier when Fanali pulled her tee shot left and required a drop, which led to an eventual bogey to help elevate Rudgeley into shared runner-up honours. It was more of the same for Rhodes, who plotted her way down the par-5 for the 15th par of her streak and her first LET title, which arrived much earlier than she had anticipated after coming through Qualifying School last year. “Nope, not at all. I wasn't expecting any of it, and I'm just glad it went my way,” she said when asked if she expected a win so soon. The 23-year-old was planning celebrations in Sydney before a quick trip home to the UK and then a return to the Southern Hemisphere in a week for the South African swing of LET events. “I'm dropping her [Lily May Humphries] at the airport and spending the night with family friends in Sydney. So maybe we'll have some champagne. They don't drink, but I'll be drinking, and then my flight home tomorrow, I'll definitely have a glass of champagne on the plane as well.” Playing the group ahead of Rhodes and without the benefit of a leaderboard, Rudgeley was doing her best to track her position throughout the final day, and when her birdie putt dropped at the 18th for a final round of 68, she thought it might have been enough to earn a spot in a playoff. It wasn’t to be, but Rudgeley took plenty of positives away from the week as she prepares for her second season on the LET. “I was getting a bit disappointed in my golf towards the end of last year and even the start of this, being Saudi and stuff, and I just wasn't playing; I wasn't getting results,” Rudgeley said. “So it was nice to have not just four rounds of golf, but four rounds under par. I think I didn't have many bogeys, which is always a bonus.” The WPGA Tour of Australasia now heads to Binalong for the World Sand Greens Championship, where Rudgeley will be the star turn of the final of three Golf NSW events on the schedule. “I'm looking forward to it actually; it'll be a good week,” she said. “Don’t know what to expect, but now we'll go out there and have a bit of fun and then a nice little break at home. See Nan and the family and friends, and then the European stuff starts.” The Ford Women's NSW Open is proudly supported by the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.