Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇) halted a four-year victory drought by conquering the Taiwan Prosperity Ladies Open on Friday. She maintained at a very high level in the final round shooting seven birdies and three bogeys to take home the top prize of NT$540,000 by a winning margin of four strokes at 11-under 205.

Shih, who started the day with a one-shot lead, quickly found herself a chaser after bogeys on the second and third hole. “It was a nervous moment. I tried to keep my cool and look for my opportunities to come,” said Shih, who did not wait too long before she regained her Thursday form, draining three birdie putts in a row right before the turn and earning the lead back which she held on to the victory.

“I haven’t been feeling the best physically all week, but I was calm enough to play with some pretty good precision. Today, I believed I missed just three fairways. The putter was not bad, too,” said the Taiwanese, who used just 28 attempts on the greens today at the Wu Fong Golf Course.

This victory is Shih’s third on the TLPGA Tour, and first after she lifted the 2020 Wistron Ladies Open trophy. “There were times when my head was down and I doubted myself. But there are so many great people around me, my parents, my coaches, and my sponsors, who just believe in me and make sure I get my chin up and fight on,” said Shih. “I try not to get too emotional, but it’s just a really good feeling to finally get another victory, after almost four years. I’ve been in the second place a lot of times and finally this is my time up here, with this beautiful Chinese porcelain trophy by Franz.”

“And of course, I would like to express my thanks to the title sponsor Taiwan Prosperity Development, the Wu Fong Golf Course, and the TLPGA. It feels great to be part of the family, and to see the Tour gets bigger and bigger with each year,” Shih added.

First-round leader Lee Hsin (李欣) bounced back from a second-round 1-over 73, to carding a 4-under 68 in today’s final-round to finish in solo second at 7-under 209.

She carried superb putting form on the greens to made six birdies, offset by two bogeys. “My short game and putter were really good. I was a little loose on the final hole to leave with a three-putt. Fortunately, I could still finish in second,” Lee said, who held three TLPGA Tour titles under her belt.

In the top-2 throughout the front nine, P.K. Kongkraphan finished with an erratic back nine, which included a 15th-hole double-bogey, and was pushed down into an equal-third finish alongside Japan’s Harumi Yoshikuwa. Kongkraphan was looking for her third win of the season after victories at the ICTSI Luisita Ladies International in April and the WPG Ladies Open in May.

Yoshikuwa, who had the opening-round lead this week, posted her best finish on the TLPGA Tour after a final-round even-par 72. “I’m still trying to figure out the greens here in Taiwan, which are usually very different from what we have in Japan,” said Yoshikuwa. “But I think I’m doing a lot better when I first got here in these conditions. It has been a great week especially, although I felt I made a little too many mistakes down the stretch on the back nine.” Yoshikuwa gave away a potential runner-up finish after bogey disappointment on no.14 and 18.

Taichung-native Chang Ting-Yu (張婷諭) took the low-amateur honor by carding a final-round 69 to finish in a tie for seventh at 215. The freshman-to-be at the San José State University will play a couple of big amateur events this summer before starting her NCAA campaign when the new semester begins.