Taiwanese Yani Tseng beats Michelle Wie to bag the Honda LPGA Thailand by five strokes
The world number one, Yani Tseng of Taiwan, has tagged yet another win to her name. The 22-year-old golfer won the Honda LPGA Thailand by a comfortable margin of five strokes over Michelle Wie of the United States. This is her first win as the world number
one. The Thailand Open held at the Pattaya Old Course at the Siam Country Club marks Tseng’s straight third win in three weeks and the fourth win in 2011. She is holding on tight to her first spot in the Women’s World Golf Rankings which Tseng took over a
few days ago after successfully defending the Australian Open. This is her sixth LPGA event title, including three majors.
Tseng carded the lowest score of the day with six under par 66 to post a total aggregate of 15 under par 273 in the four day tournament. She shot seven birdies in the final round with the only bogey coming at the par four 14th hole. Tseng took
an early lead on the final day with three birdies scored on the first four holes. "I have lots of confidence. All day I was patient and focused and I just tried to control what I could control. I tried not to look at the other scores. I knew I needed to stay
patient. All day, I was patient and focused and I just tried to control what I could control,” she said, “I did not think about winning today, just tried to do my best, I came here in confident mood after winning three titles. Hopefully, I can win next week
in Singapore. I feel very excited every week, next week is a new week and I'll enjoy it."
The runners-up, Michelle Wie, finished the final round with a score of two under par 70. She was satisfied with her performance. “For me, it is pretty good to be a runner-up, a lot better than last year. However, it is a little bit disappointing. I played
good out there today," Wie said after her pairing with Tseng in the final group. "But on the back nine, I just didn't make anything. Yani played fantastic. She played like a rock star out there. She played awesome. She made every single putt and zero mistakes."
The leader of the first two rounds, In-Kyung Kim of South Korea shared the third spot on the leader board with Karrie Webb of Australia. Kim started off the tournament well, leveling the course-record of nine under par 63 but could not manage to keep her
momentum going in to the next rounds. She could only manage to post one under 71 in the final round. She carded the total aggregate of nine under par 279. American Paula Creamer posted eight under par 280 to finish in the fifth spot while Juli Inkster managed
the sixth spot.
Yani Tseng pocketed the prize money of US $217,500, whereas, Michelle Wie earned $140, 360.
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