Whitney Hillier produces emotional finish in Switzerland
Whitney Hillier – file photo courtesy of Australian Golf Media
35-year-old West Australian, Whitney Hillier, produced her best finish in several years on the Ladies European Tour when finishing runner-up at the VP Bank Ladies Swiss Open, sharing second place with two others and just one shot behind the winner, Elanor Givens.
Hillier, who had been out of the game for several seasons as a result of a mysterious Covid vaccine-related illness, returned to tournament play at the start of 2026 and has slowly rebuilt her game and confidence since.
This week, however, was a surprise but welcome return to being competitive in an event as she contended throughout and put together a solid final round of 68 after beginning the final day three behind the then-leader Kajsa Arwefjall of Sweden.
Hillier contended throughout the final day and shared the lead on occasions, producing a bogey-free round to complete what must surely be an emotional return to contention.
“It feels so good,” Hillier told the Ladies European Tour. She now gets into the KPMG Women’s Irish Open with the top-10 finish, “The feeling is addictive. You just want to compete, play, and get close to winning. I was bogey-free today. Technically I couldn’t do much else. I mean, I left so many putts out there, but it was tough to read the putts under that sun. It’s my first time contending since 2022 and it felt so good. I slept well and was in a good mental space. It’s just so nice to have my golf back to where it was.”
In eight Ladies European Tour starts this season, she has a best finish of just 37th and a best cheque of just €2712 before this week, so her performance is quite a milestone given the journey she has been on for the past few years. Hillier earns 22,750 for her efforts this week and moves to 64th on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit.
Fellow Australians, Madison Hinson-Tolchard and Justice Bosio, also had good weeks when they shared 11th place.
