Shanshan Feng won the individual professional event at Mission Hills Haikou
It was a clean sweep for the home nation when Chinese representatives won the individual, team and amateur titles at the inaugural World Ladies Championship on Hainan Island in southern China.
World No.12 Shanshan Feng earned a one stroke victory in the individual stroke play event for professionals being held over 54 holes on the Vintage Course at Mission Hills Haikou, making history as the first player from mainland China to win on the Ladies European Tour.
Feng finished with a 10 under par total of 206 after rounds of 66, 69 and 71, ending a stroke ahead of Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum, with Sweden’s Pernilla Lindberg a shot further behind in third.
Feng’s partner in the team event, Liying Ye, ended in share of fourth place on seven under par alongside Italian Diana Luna, who led the tournament outright after 13 holes. However, the former Solheim Cup player dropped a shot at the 16th to fall into a tie for the lead with Feng. She then triple bogeyed the 18th after hitting her second shot into a water hazard over the back of the green.
Team event winners Shanshan Feng and Liying Yi flanked by Mr Tenniel Chu, Mr Tan Li, Mr Xiaoning Zhang and Ms Alexandra Armas.
Feng and Ye’s superior scores also saw them collect the team title in the concurrent event for 20 pairs also being played over The Vintage Course.
The duo combined for a winning total of 415, 17 under par, with a two stroke victory over Thai pair Nontaya Srisawang and Phatlum, with Sweden’s Lindberg and Linda Wessberg three strokes further behind in third.
Feng said: “I wasn’t really shooting a low score today. I think at one time I was like, three behind, but I wasn’t worried at all because I knew I would have more chances on the back nine and I would catch up and finally I got it.
“I was really focusing on the team score and I saw the Thailand team was really strong. They played really well today and they were trying to catch up and me and my partner, we were talking about it and we said, ‘no, we can’t let them catch us.’”
Feng played with her partner, Ye, in the final group and added: “It was really nice to play with her. She is my partner this week and has always been a nice sister to me. We chat a lot on the course and it really helps.”
Ye, 33, from Fu Jian Province, said: “I was very relaxed because I knew that playing with Feng Shanshan we could win the team event.”
Feng, 22, from Guangzhou, won twice on the LPGA of Japan in 2011, at the Meiji Chocolate Cup and the Miyagi TV Dunlop Ladies Cup, but this was her third career title as an individual and her first on home soil.
Feng added: “It’s really special because I won twice in Japan last year but I haven’t won in China yet. I always played the Chinese Open but I haven’t won and last year I was second, so I really wanted to win a tournament in China and I did it, so I’m really happy.”
Leading amateur Jing Yan with Wang Li Wei from the CGA and government official Xu Minsheng.
The 16-year-old Chinese national team member, Jing Yan, who was born and raised in Singapore, showed her class by leading the amateur honours. She posted rounds of 72, 73 and 71for an even par total of 216, ending the tournament two shots clear of the next best placed amateur, World No.1 Lydia Ko.
Yan was one of eight competitors vying for the amateur title and will now receive two tournament exemptions. She will be offered a spot in the Ladies European Tour’s Lalla Meryem Cup taking place from March 22-25 at Golf de L’Ocean in Agadir, Morocco and also to play in the China Ladies Open on the China LPGA Tour taking place during the second week of December.
Yan, who hopes to represent China in the 2016 Olympic Games, said: “It was quite a challenge, this tournament, especially with the strong field of players, both professional and amateur. Getting a chance to play with Lydia Ko, the world number one amateur, again, his is the second time I’ve played with her, so I felt it was a challenge coming into the tournament both mentally and technically. I tried not to think about the tournament too much but more on my game.
“I’m pretty glad that I did better than the first two days but it was a struggle though because from the beginning I felt like, it’s the last day and expectations are higher, so I really wanted to do well.”
Yan has an unusual golf education. She started playing golf aged four and sat in the television commentary box many times as a youngster whilst her father, Ming, was commentating on tournament golf for ESPN.
With Chinese winners in all three formats of the unique three-in-one event, the 2012 World Ladies Championship could mark a watershed moment for Chinese women’s golf, with many more bright young prospects set to burst through the ranks in the years to come.
World Ladies Championship
Mission Hills Haikou, Hainan, China
The Vintage Course (par 72)
March 2-4, 2012
Individual tournament
Final Scores:
206 - Shanshan Feng (CHN) 66 69 71
207 - Pornanong Phatlum (THA) 68 69 70
208 - Pernilla Lindberg (SWE) 69 70 69
209 - Liying Ye (CHN) 68 67 74, Diana Luna (ITA) 66 71 72
