Rain scraps play as Park Ji-young is declared Singapore Women’s Open champion
The South Korean’s strong opening 36-hole performance was enough to give her a fifth KLPGA Tour title.
IT WAS raining cats and dogs – which meant Park Ji-young never had the chance to step on course to tee off for the final round of the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women’s Open golf tournament on Sunday (Dec 11) morning.
Park was the overnight leader of the S$1.1 million competition at the Tanah Merah Country Club’s Tampines course..
She was declared the winner of the inaugural event after the third and final round was cancelled due to inclement weather that allowed only seven groups of golfers to set foot on the course before play was halted at 8.50am.
An hour after her scheduled tee-off at 10.10am, the organisers declared that the outcome would be decided from the performances of the earlier two rounds. This led to Park, the current world No 72, being soaked with champagne and water as her South Korean colleagues gave her a splashing celebration on the fringes of the clubhouse.
Park won by a shot after firing a five-under 67 on Saturday for a 11-under 133 total, leaving compatriots Hong Jung-min, Lee So-young and Park Hyun-kyung to claim joint-second spot.
It was Park’s fifth victory on the Korean LPGA Tour that gave her a winners’ cheque for S$198,000.
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Said Park: “Of course, I would have loved to have a round, but the rules allow for a 36-hole victory, so I’ll savour it. I did accomplish some come-from-behind victories previously, but never from a shortened tournament, so it’s really different. It feels very special. A win is always fulfilling regardless of how I attained it.”
Ninety minutes after her triumph, the clubhouse thinned out as players and officials left.
But Park was still busy obliging the media with photo opportunities – from receiving her prize from Hana Financial Group chairman Ham Young-joo at the media centre, to trudging along to the ninth green for various poses with her trophy under a light drizzle.
The home crowd had plenty to cheer as Singapore’s top professional Koh Sock Hwee, who shot 68 and 72, finished joint-26th. It was a position she shared with Hong Kong’s star player Tiffany Chan, who registered a hole-in-one on the first day.
“It was one of my best finishes against a top class field like this,” said a beaming Koh, 32, who won the Bella Vista Charity Classic in Arkansas in the US last May.
Singapore’s Laguna National-sponsored Shannon Tan claimed the amateur title with rounds of 76 and 67. For the 18-year-old, who studies at Texas Tech University in the United States, this was her first cut in a professional event. She made it with a 67 on Saturday that saw her propel from tied-88th on Friday to tied-53rd on Saturday.
Two pre-tournament favourites – the world No 3 Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand and world No 14 Park Min-ji of South Korea –posted 68 and 69 respectively on a Saturday finish in a seven-way tie for ninth on 137.
Former world No 1 Shin Ji-yai, who won the HSBC Women’s Champions at Tanah Merah Country Club’s Garden course back in 2009, finished in the same position as Shannon with rounds of 74 and 69.
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