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Yani Tseng wins LPGA
tournament
HOME TURF: The world No. 1 golfer outplayed
Spainˇ¦s Azahara Munoz and Amy Yang of South Korea in the final round, going
bogey-free, to finish with a five-stroke win
AP and CNA, YANGMEI,TAOYUAN COUNTY , and TAIPEI
Yani Tseng of Taiwan poses with
her trophy after winning the Sunrise LPGA Championship at the Sunrise Golf and
Country Club in Yangmei, Taoyuan County, yesterday.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
Yani Tseng (´ż¶®©g) won the LPGA Taiwan
Championship yesterday for her 12th worldwide victory and second in front of her
adoring home fans this year.
The 22-year-old Taiwanese star closed with a six-under 66 at Sunrise for a
five-stroke victory over Spainˇ¦s Azahara Munoz and South Koreaˇ¦s Amy Yang.
ˇ§I play [sic] really, really good today, I was bogey-free,ˇ¨ Tseng said. ˇ§I wish
this year would go on forever so I could win more, but I can always get better.ˇ¨
The top-ranked Tseng finished on a 16-under 272 and earned US$300,000 for her
seventh LPGA Tour victory of the season to increase her tour-leading total to
US$2,873,629. She donated US$100,000 to the Golf Association of the Republic of
China to support junior golf.
Tseng won her first four events this year, taking the Taiwanese tourˇ¦s Taifong
Ladies and sweeping the Australian Womenˇ¦s Open and Ladies Masters before
opening the LPGA Tour season with a victory in the LPGA Thailand.
The LPGA Tour player of the year for the second straight season, Tseng won major
titles this summer in the LPGA Championship and Womenˇ¦s British Open and has 12
victories in four seasons on the tour.
Tseng wore her signature pink polo shirt to tee off on the final round,
determined to keep her lead position and win the trophy on home turf.
Many fans were waiting at the first hole before Tseng even appeared, with some
wearing the same outfit as their idol, and some who responded to a request by
Tseng a day earlier to wear a charity T-shirt to show their support.
Tseng had called for her fans on Saturday to wear T-shirts emblazoned with the
words ˇ§How Choˇ¨ ˇX a rough Chinese transliteration of the phrase ˇ§good shotˇ¨ (haoqiu,
¦n˛y) ˇX in support of the Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation.
After opening with rounds of 68, 71 and 67 to take a two-stroke lead into the
final round, Tseng birdied the par-three second and reached 14-under with
birdies on the par-five sixth and par-four seventh and eighth holes.
She parred the next seven holes, birdied the par-three 16th, increased her lead
to four strokes with a par on the par-four 17th and birdied the par-five 18th.
ˇ§I could feel victory at the 18th hole, especially with so many fans yelling
ˇĄGo, go,ˇ¦ˇ¨ Tseng said.
Yang finished with a 67 and Munoz had a 68.
The USˇ¦ Morgan Pressel shot a 65 ˇX the best round of the week in the inaugural
tournament, to tie for fourth with Swedenˇ¦s Anna Nordqvist (71) at nine-under.
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