KUALA LUMPUR: Jessica Korda shed tears of joy as she put an indifferent season on the LPGA behind her with a convincing victory at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia on Sunday.
A relaxed mindset saw the 22-year-old American overcome punishing conditions at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club to fire matching six-under 65s over the weekend to seal a winning total of 18-under-par 266.
Korda, who began the final round with a two-shot advantage, mixed seven birdies with a single bogey to leave a top-order trio of world number two Lydia Ko (66) of New Zealand, titleholder Feng Shansan (66) and Stacy Lewis (67) four shots adrift in joint second.
“Just to win again is amazing especially after the year I have had,” said the four-time LPGA Tour winner, who began crying before holing out on the last.
It proved to be another week of progress in the comeback of Chinese Taipei’s Yani Tseng, who capped a solid campaign with a five-under 66 to finish sole fifth on 271, just ahead of South Korea’s Ha Na Jang (69).
Continuing her sterling run of results in 2015, India’s Aditi Ashok claimed the best amateur prize with a respectable one-under 283 overall to finish in a share for 42nd.
The Malaysian Angels campaign ended in a whimper with LPGA regular Kelly Tan shooting even-par on the day to finish as the best placed local on five-over 289, on the back of an even-par closing round.
“I know I could have done a lot better but I still walk away from this week with a lot of positives, definitely. I analysed my performance with my caddie and looking back, I didn’t really take my opportunities on the par-fives this week,” noted the Johorean, who turns 22 next week.
A round of 72 saw Michelle Koh settle for sole 70 on 17-over 284, with Cindy Lee-Pridgen (+24) and Nur Durriyah Damian (+26) close behind her. It proved a humbling campaign for Ainil Johani Abu Bakar, who had ignominy of finishing last in the 75-player field with a four-day haul of 31-over 315.
Leading final results >
266 – Jessica Korda (USA) 69-67-65-65
270 – Lydia Ko (NZL) 71-65-68-66, Feng Shanshan (CHN) 66-69-69-66, Stacy Lewis (USA) 72-66-65-67
271 – Yani Tseng (TPE) 66-68-71-66
272 – Ha Na Jang (KOR) 67-65-71-69
273 – Anna Nordqvist (SWE) 71-67-70-65, Mika Miyazato (JPN) 68-69-68-68, Lin Xi Yu (CHN) 65-68-71-69
274 – Haru Nomura (JPN) 71-65-70-68, IK Kim (KOR) 68-68-69-69
Best Amateur: 283 – Aditi Ashok (IND) 70-73-68-72
Selected Malaysians >
289 – Kelly Tan 70-74-74-71
301 – Michelle Koh 77-76-77-72
308 – Cindy Lee-Pridgen
310 – Nur Durriyah Damian (a) 79-71-83-77
315 – Ainil Johani Abu Bakar 80-81-73-81
