SINGAPORE (Reuters) – South Korea’s Park Sung-hyun produced a sizzling final round of eight-under par 64 in windy conditions to clinch a two-stroke victory over Australia’s Minjee Lee in the LPGA Women’s World Championship in Singapore on Sunday.
The 25-year-old from Seoul opened her final round with three successive birdies and made two more at six and seven but a bogey on the par-five eighth made her turn at four-under for the round.
She made a further four birdies on the back nine and tapped in for par from less than three feet to sign for a total of 15-under 273 on the Tanjong Course at Sentosa Golf Club.
“I’m really happy with my play today. I am really happy because I used to have rough starts to my year and I think that I will now feel really comfortable for the rest of the season,” Park said through an interpreter.
Lee, who was also the runner-up in Thailand last week, shot 69 to finish on 13-under 275 as she was overtaken by Park, who started the final round in eighth place.
Spain’s Azahara Munoz and Korea’s Ko Jin-young both shot closing scores of 69 to finish tied for third two strokes further back, with Kim Hyo-joo (70) and American Amy Olson (70) tied for fifth on 10-under 278.
Lee, who had started in second place on Sunday behind Thailand’s world number one Ariya Jutanugarn, had taken a two-stroke lead when she made her third birdie of the round at the par-five eighth.
The 22-year-old made another birdie on the par-four 12th but Park was continuing her charge and took a share of the lead with her seventh birdie of the round on 13th and then took a two-stroke lead on 16 with her final birdie while Lee made a bogey on 14.
Lee needed to make an eagle on the final hole to force an unlikely playoff but her second shot landed about 30 feet from the pin.
World number one Jutanugarn had a one-shot lead heading into the final round but a double bogey at the par-three fourth dropped her down the leaderboard and she was unable to recover.
She made a double-bogey seven on 13 and another bogey on 14 ended her hopes of winning her first event in Asia as she closed with a 75 to finish in a tie for eighth with eight-under 280.
(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
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