British Open champion Shin Ji-yai stormed to a two-shot victory at the HSBC Women’s Champions yesterday after Australia’s Katherine Hull choked on the back nine.
Joint third-round leader Hull had a three-shot lead at the turn, but a bogey on the 10th, a double-bogey on the 13th and another dropped shot on 14 blew any hope she had of claiming the biggest victory of her career.
She pulled back a shot on the 17th and needed a birdie on the last to force a play-off, but instead could only manage another bogey. It handed Shin the glory, with a six-under 66 for a four-round total of 277 to add another tournament scalp to her ever-growing list.
PHOTO: EPA
She has now won four times on the US LPGA Tour and 27 times internationally.
Paula Creamer, fellow American Angela Stanford and Brazil’s Angela Park all finished tied for third, three off the lead.
World No. 1 and defending champion Lorena Ochoa couldn’t produce the fireworks to make a charge and ended four adrift of Shin, alongside American Jane Park and South Korea’s Yoo Sun-young.
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng finished a further two shots behind Ochoa in tied 11th.
■THAILAND OPEN
AP, PHUKET, THAILAND
India’s Jyoti Randhawa fired a five-under 65 in yesterday’s final round to clinch a two-stroke victory at the Thailand Open.
Randhawa finished with a total of 17-under 263 to win the new Asian Tour event at the Laguna Phuket Golf Club. Welshman Rhys Davies (67) was runner-up, finishing ahead of Taiwan’s Lu Wei-chih (65).
Randhawa attributed his eighth Asian Tour win to a more relaxed approach, having used his preparation to frolic at the seaside rather than work on his game.
“I need to relax a bit and chill out,” Randhawa said. “I came her, I swam, I went scuba diving and I enjoyed myself, and here I am, I’ve won a golf tournament. I learned a lot and I need to do this more often.”
■HONDA CLASSIC
AFP, PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA
South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun retained his one-shot lead at the Honda Classic on Saturday with an even-par third round of 70.
Yang, who started the day with a one-stroke lead, finished the day with a seven-under total of 203 after a steady round that included 16 pars, one birdie and one bogey.
After a day that saw six players briefly claim at least a share of the lead, he was a stroke in front of Jeff Overton and rookie Jeff Klauk.
Overton, who started the day a stroke back, almost shot himself out of contention with a triple-bogey seven at the 11th, but he bounced back with three birdies in the final six holes for a 70 and a share of second place.
Klauk, a rookie whose best finish is a tie for 11th at the Buick Invitational, fired his third consecutive sub-par round, a three-under 67.
Klauk nabbed four birdies, with his lone bogey coming at the 11th.
Another South Korean, Charlie Wi, was tied with Brett Quigley (67) and John Rollins (68) on five-under 205.
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