South Korea’s Shin Ji-yai picked up her fifth title in 11 months with a seven-stroke victory at the Wegmans LPGA on Sunday.
The 21-year-old star from Seoul shot a one-under 71 to finish in a downpour at 17-under 271. Kristy McPherson and Taiwan’s Yani Tseng each shot a 66, the day’s best score, to surge into a second-place tie at 10-under. One behind were Japan’s Mika Miyazato (71) and rookies Kang Hae-ji of South Korea (71) and Stacy Lewis (74), the former NCAA champion from Arkansas.
First-round leader Sandra Gal (74) of Germany bogeyed the last hole to drop into a four-way tie for seventh place at 8-under with Cristie Kerr (69), Meaghan Francella (70) and Yoo Sun-young (73).
PHOTO: AFP
“I have a lot of tournaments” left to play this year and “maybe I try more wins,” Shin said. “Still, my goal is rookie of the year.”
Shin dedicated her victory again to her mother, who was killed in an car accident in 2004.
“I have my mother’s picture in my course book,” she said.
Shin carried a four-stroke lead into the final round at the tricky Locust Hill course. She never looked in danger of being caught, even when she picked up two straight bogeys near the close as heavy rain produced a flurry of errors. She earned US$300,000, vaulting her to the top of the money list above Kerr, Kim In-kyung and Lorena Ochoa with US$1 million.
The US$2 million tournament drew 18 of the season’s top 20 money winners. Ochoa, the world’s top-ranked player, and Suzann Pettersen, the runner-up last June, were among the absentees.
A multiple winner on the Korean tour, Shin became the first non-LPGA member to win three events when she reeled in the women’s British Open last August. She followed with late-season wins in the Mizuno Classic and ADT Championship and, in March, captured the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore for her first victory as a LPGA Tour member.
Shin rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt on one, saved par from 20 feet on six, but picked up her first of three bogeys on the next hole when her seven-foot putt curled left at the cup. She made amends from the same distance for a birdie on the par-five eighth.
Morgan Pressel closed the gap to four strokes with an eight-foot birdie putt before the turn, but Shin’s lead swelled to six when she birdied 10.
Shin birdied from nine feet on 17 to seal the biggest margin of victory in this tournament since Patty Sheehan beat Nancy Lopez by nine strokes in 1992.
Lewis, who tied for third at the US Women’s Open last summer, reached 13-under at 13, but slumped with four bogeys on the last six holes.
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