Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) 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 Spain’s Azahara Munoz and South Korea’s Amy Yang.
“I play [sic] really, really good today, I was bogey-free,” Tseng said. “I wish this year would go on forever so I could win more, but I can always get better.”
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
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 tour’s Taifong Ladies and sweeping the Australian Women’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 Women’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 “How Cho” — a rough Chinese transliteration of the phrase “good shot” (haoqiu, 好球) — 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.
“I could feel victory at the 18th hole, especially with so many fans yelling ‘Go, go,’” Tseng said.
Yang finished with a 67 and Munoz had a 68.
The US’ Morgan Pressel shot a 65 — the best round of the week in the inaugural tournament, to tie for fourth with Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist (71) at nine-under.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
FLOOD RECOVERY: “Post-Typhoon Danas reconstruction special act” is expected to be approved on Thursday, the premier said, adding the flood control in affected areas would be prioritized About 200cm of rainfall fell in parts of southern Taiwan from Monday last week to 9am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Kaohsiung’s Taoyuan District (桃源) saw total rainfall of 2,205mm, while Pingtung County’s Sandimen Township (三地門) had 2,060.5mm and Tainan’s Nanhua District (南化) 1,833mm, according to CWA data. Meanwhile, Alishan (阿里山) in Chiayi County saw 1,688mm of accumulated rain and Yunlin County’s Caoling (草嶺) had 1,025mm. The Pingtung County Government said that 831 local residents have been pre-emptively evacuated from mountainous areas. A total of 576 are staying with relatives in low-lying areas, while the other 255 are in shelters. CWA forecaster
RSS