Australian Katherine Hull stormed away to beat an international field by five strokes and win the Australian Ladies Masters at Royal Pines yesterday.
American Mollie Fankhauser-Cavanagh (70-70-68-70), Taiwan’s Yani Tseng (71-72-69-66), Gwladys Nocera of France (69-73-69-67) and Australian Sarah Kemp (73-68-69-68) finished in a four-way tie for fourth place on 10-under 278.
Hull carded rounds of 69-67-68-68 to finish the 72 holes 16-under-par 272 and pull away from fellow Australian Tamie Durdin and South Korean Ryu So-yeon.
Hull, 26, had the luxury of a six-shot cushion playing the last five holes and could afford to slip up with a bogey at the last hole.
Durdin finished with a final round of two-under-par 70 and Ryu reeled off a closing five-under 67 to be 11-under 277.
Ryu will miss this week’s Australian Women’s Open at The Metropolitan in Melbourne to return home and graduate from high school.
“I’ve always been capable of putting three good rounds together, but four was iffy,” Hull said.
“I’ve dreamt about this since I was a kid. It hasn’t sunk in yet, there’s so many great names on the trophy,” she said.
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