Sandrine Mendiburu discovered yesterday that second chances can, in fact, happen in top-level competition. After missing from six-feet at the 72nd, the French player needed only a tap-in to capture the £100,000 Donegal Irish Women's Open at the second hole of a sudden-death play-off.

"I'm very happy because I really didn't think I was mentally strong enough to win," she said after collecting the top prize of £15,000. "But the crowds really supported me. I didn't know French people were so popular in Ireland."

She could be seen to have paid her dues, in that she had played in all six stagings since this tournament was launched at St Margaret's in 1994. Which means she was at Luttrellstown Castle two years ago when compatriot Patricia Meunier Lebouc brought the title to France for the first time.

In a remarkable climax, the controversial Laura Davies rallied from a share of eighth place overnight to become favourite for the title. With a final round of 69, she confounded her many critics here by getting into a four-way play-off which also involved Spain's Raquel Carriedo and Germany's Elisabeth Esterl.

Ironically, the 489-yard par-five 18th seemed an ideal stage for Davies' power play. But as the 72nd, her four-iron second shot of 235 yards was pushed into an advertising hoarding, short right of the green. Then, as the first playoff hole, she chipped from eight yards short to eight feet past and missed the birdie putt for the title.

When they came down the 18th for a second and decisive time, Davies hit her second into a drain on the right, from where she did well to be off the back left of the green in three. But she chipped poorly, leaving the ball 12 feet short of the pin and took two putts from there.

Esterl had dropped out the first time by three-putting for a bogey six. And Carriedo then squandered her chance by shanking a chip from off the right edge to be 18 feet away in four. So Mendiburu had the relatively simple task of getting down in two putts from 30 feet left of the hole.

Her first effort was beautifully judged, finishing a foot past the target. And when she tapped in for a winning par, her reaction was more of relief than elation, as a huge gallery roared their approval. It was her second tour victory, coming five years after capturing the Costa Azul Open in Portugal.

Having started the day on one over par, a stroke behind joint leaders Dale Reid and Wendy Dicks, the 26-year-old French woman drew level with a birdie at the first and went on to birdie the long sixth to be leading at one under par for the tournament at that stage.

But it was an afternoon of fluctuating fortunes. Just when former US Women's Open champion Alison Nicholas looked set to break clear after an outward 33, she stumbled to a bogey at the 10th. And her challenge petered out when she failed to reach the top tier of the short 16th, resulting almost predictably in a three-putt bogey.

Davies, meanwhile, suddenly burst into life on the 15th where she sank a 15-footer for a birdie three. And when a 12-footer found the target at the 17th, she had become a serious challenger for a title which she won at St Margaret's in 1994 and 1995.

With her power, there was clearly the possibility of an eagle on the 18th, though, as it happened, a birdie would have been sufficient.

Mendiburu also let a glorious chance slip when she three-putted the 17th. But, to her credit, she remained calm, a disposition which she later attributed to the support of her boyfriend, Franck Riboud, a wealthy businessman who arrived yesterday to witness her triumph.

Taught by her father, Philippe, the professional at Biarritz, she had a sparkling amateur career highlighted by victories in the French Junior Championship of 1989 and 1991 and the US Junior Championship of 1990. And as a member of the Chantaco club, she could hardly have wished for a more distinguished mentor than Catherine Lacoste, who remains the only amateur to win the US Women's Open.