Feng Shanshan on Sunday struggled down the stretch, but was able to hold on and post a one-shot victory at the LPGA Volvik Championship in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Feng bogeyed two of the final three holes and that opened the door for South Korea’s Park Sung-hyun to force a playoff, but Park shot a par-five on the 18th hole finish tied for second place with Minjee Lee of Australia.
Feng made six birdies while shooting 68 in the final round for a 19-under 269 total. Lee posted eight birdies and one bogey in a round of 65, while Park shot 66 in a bogey-free round.
Chinese 27-year-old Feng set a tournament record for a 72-hole score. She also relished the victory because it was just her third on US soil. It was her seventh LPGA Tour victory.
“I’m really happy that I’m not only playing well in Asia, but also in the US, and very glad that a lot of the Chinese came today to actually come support me,” Feng said.
While Feng hung on, Park was pleased with the run she made and hopes her performance would prompt an upgrade in her play.
“I think all the events I played so far leading up to this event, things weren’t really going well for me,” Park said. “I think I lost a little bit of confidence, but playing well this week, I think I regained my confidence and I’m looking forward to playing the rest of the year.”
Lee’s 65 matched the lowest score for this week’s tournament. She did not appear to have much of a chance late on, but Feng’s stumbles helped her close to within a shot.
“I saw the leaderboard walking up and I was like: ‘Oh, I’m four shots behind with like two holes to go,’” Lee said. “So just tried to play and make as many birdies as I could on the last two holes. I made one.”
Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling, the leader after the first round, finished tied for 16th place on 12-under after a 68.
Kaohsiung-born Candie Kung (73) was tied for 41st place on six-under, three shots ahead of Taiwan’s Chien Pei-yun (73) who was tied for 56th place.
Feng moved up to sixth in the Rolex rankings following the victory.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but