SHANGHAI, June 4 (Xinhua) — Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong posted a wire-to-wire victory throughout third spherical play on the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Championship on Sunday, because the Thai veteran battled by way of windy situations to win by one stroke in Shanghai.
After main by a single stroke going into the ultimate spherical on the Lanhai International Golf Club Yangtze Dune format, the 26-year-old Bueng Kan native closed with an even-par 72 to assert the winner’s prize and transfer to the highest of the China LPGA Tour Order of Merit. Sherman completed the event with a 54-hole rating of five-under 211.
Fellow Thai Supamas Sangchan (70) completed second, a shot forward of China’s Shi Yuli (72). Aunchisa Utama (70) added to the sturdy Thai displaying in ending equal fourth with Chinese beginner Cao Xinyu (75) 4 strokes off the tempo.
With the wind blowing at its strongest throughout the ultimate spherical of the event, Sherman obtained off to a tough begin when she carded back-to-back bogeys ranging from the third gap. She then picked up birdies on the sixth and eighth holes to make the flip at even par.
The again 9 noticed Sherman survive an erratic end that includes two extra birdies, together with a key birdie on the penultimate gap to get to six-under, adopted by a bogey 5 on the final.
“After the second round I talked to my dad. He was in the temple and I told him ‘pray for me’ and if I win I will make the drive back to Bueng Kan. It’s about 12 to 13 hours northeast of Bangkok, so I’ll have a long drive ahead of me once I get back to Thailand. But I am very happy to get my first win in China,” stated Sherman, who performed recurrently on the US LPGA Tour from 2017 to 2019.
It was a win that almost did not occur as a hard-charging Supamas carded 4 birdies over the Yangtze Dunes again 9, together with a 25-foot chip-in on the final, to get shut. Her spherical additionally included two bogeys on the entrance 9.
“I was reading the speed and lies a lot better on the back nine. My putter was working and the combination with that resulted in a good finish,” stated Supamas, a two-time winner on the CLPGA Tour. “I’m happy with the result as I didn’t know the scores. I just tried to do my best and finish strongly. No disappointment.”
For Shi, the frustration was evident because the Beijing native struggled along with her putter all through the event in carding six three-putts over the three days. Her ultimate spherical included 5 birdies that have been offset by 5 bogeys.
“Long putts were troublesome and always over the holes I had some bad breaks. I watched the leaderboard off the last tee knowing I was just one shot behind. I attempted to be aggressive, but I didn’t make it. I hit into the bunker off the tee and had to lay up,” she stated. “But I also had a good birdie at the 17th hole. I hit a good shot from a terrible lie in the rough and made a tricky five-foot birdie putt.”