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A two-player battle between Thailand’s Nontaya Srisawang and Taiwan’s Phoebe Yao (姚宣榆) brought shadows of déjà vu in the final round of the 2014 TLPGA & Royal Open. Srisawang overcame a three-shot deficit on the back nine, racing to the victory after shooting a 4-under 68 to finish at 208.
Yao was on the verge of breaking the course record at the Royal Kuan-Hsi Golf Club in yesterday’s second round before she was beaten by the wind and gave in two double-bogeys to hand the advantage to Srisawang into Sunday’s final round.
Yao looked all poised to regain the glory early in the day, posting a perfect 4-under on the front nine (32) just as yesterday to set up another three-shot lead over Srisawang. However, the back nine let her down again. Her missing greens and routine putts cut the score back two shots on 10th and 13th, whereas the more experienced Srisawang, who spent the last three years on the LET, raised her aggressive game to capture two birdies on 11th and 13th, grabbing back the one-shot lead.
The Thai never looked back, solidifying her position with another two birdies on Hole 15 to 16 after the beautifully executed iron shots that set up the tap-in opportunities. Srisawang’s victory marks her third career title, and the first on the TLPGA Tour.
“I came here six times that it felt almost like a home course!” said Srisawang. “I’m very happy finally I win it.”
“I didn’t even look at the scores. I wanted to focus on my own game. Because I knew if I could do that, I had a good chance,” said Srisawang. “And I did, thanks to my caddie Tae, he really helped me feel more relaxed out there.”
“Srisawang played really well. So credits to her. She deserved it,” said Yao, who finished two shots back at 210. “There were definitely couple of things I could have done better, but I think I played a nice round. Srisawang was on fire that I had no chance.”
Taiwanese Lin Tzu-Chi (林子麒) shot a 3-under 69 to finish in solo third at 215. Chien Pei-Yun (錢珮芸), who hit the low round of the day with a 5-under 67 to finish at 216 and upped herself in a tie with teen star Cheng Ssu-Chia (程思嘉) for fourth.
Defending champion Titiya Plucksataporn posted an even-par round, best score in her three rounds, which put her into the top 10 at solo tenth.
This is the twelfth edition of the NT$6 millionTLPGA Tour event. Srisawang took away the winner prize worth NT$1.2 million. Yao earned the runner-up prize money of NT$600,000. |
