Tseng continues her winning ways
BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2011 Honda LPGA Thailand | Final Round | 21 Feb 2011
World number one golfer, Yani Tseng, made it four wins from four starts in 2011 when she broke clear from an early three way final day battle for the lead to win the Honda Thailand PGA event in Chonburi in Thailand by five shots.
The win followed Tseng’s seven shot victory at the Australian Women’s Open and her four shot victory at the ANZ RACV Ladies Masters, further confirming that she is now the dominant player in the female game.
She had also won a lesser event in Taiwan before heading to Australia. A collective 16 shot winning margin at her last three events tells the story of her dominance.
Tseng took a one shot lead into today’s final round but In Kyung Kim and Michelle Wie remained within striking distance early in the round and even through 10 holes, the gap between Tseng and Kim was only one.
Tseng moved two clear through 13 holes but a bogey at the 14th and the difference was just one. Although the title was hardly in doubt it became even less so when Kim struck disaster at the par four 17th. A quintuple bogey 9 at the par four saw her spiral down the leader-board and although she somehow managed to birdie the last she had not only lost any chance of winning, but she would finish in a share of third with Karrie Webb, one shot behind Wie.
While all of this was going on Tseng just continued on her merry way. An eagle after a brilliant second at her final hole on Saturday had been an important moment after dropping shots at her two previous holes and had allowed her to take a lead into the final day.
Apart from the one mistake at the 14th she played almost flawless golf today and she now heads to Singapore as a very shot priced favourite to improve on her 3rd place finish there last year and to continue her winning streak.
Webb did well to recover from a horror start to her round. She dropped four shots in her opening five holes to disappear from the leader-board but then powered home for a round of 68 and the share of third position.
Katherine Hull was the only other Australian in the field and finished in 18th position.
