Published on June 11, 2017

Hong Kong: Supamas Sangchan survived an erratic finish to eke out a tense one-shot victory in the EFG Hong Kong Ladies Open.
Holding a two-stroke lead through 15 holes, the Bangkok native had a bogey-birdie-bogey finish over the Hong Kong Golf Club’s Old Course. Her closing one-under 71 gave her a three-day aggregate of 10-under 206, a record for the three-year-old tournament at the Fanling venue, a Golf Course Facility Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.
“Actually, my goal was to finish at around 15-under. But I didn’t make enough birdies to go as low as I wanted. Luckily, I had some birdies from the previous rounds so it was sufficient for me to win the tournament,” said Supamas, who collected the first prize of US$22,500.
Thai Renuka Suksukont (67) finished equal second with Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Yu-ling (68) at the US$150,000 tournament, co-sanctioned by the China LPGA Tour, LPGA of Taiwan and Ladies Asian Golf Tour.
German Leticia Ras-Anderica (67), Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yu-ju (68) and Thai Saranporn Langkulgasettrin (65) were two shots behind the champion in equal fourth.
Supamas, runner-up to Shi Yuting in Beijing last week, went into the final round having not dropped a shot over the opening 36 holes. That run ended when she made a bogey-five at the 403-yard fourth hole. The 20-year-old then rebounded for birdies at holes six and nine to make the turn at 10-under.
After getting to 11-under with a birdie-three at the 308-yard 10th she played par golf through 15. Supamas blamed poor club selection for her bogey-four at the 16, but she got that stroke back with a birdie-four at 17 when she sank a putt from 12 feet.
Holding a two-stroke lead going into the last, she admitted to feeling nervous and it showed when her drive went right and landed under some trees. After punching out, she put her third shot from 70 yards out safely on the green and two-putted for her second China LPGA Tour win.
An eagle-three at the 478-yard 17th got Renuka to nine-under and within a shot of the lead. It was as close as she would get as she could only shoot par at the 371-yard finishing hole.
Li Jiayun was the top mainland Chinese player, the Guangdong native closing with a 71 to sit seventh, three strokes of the pace. Yu Pei-lin, the overnight co-leader from Chinese Taipei, struggled to a 75 to finish one stroke further back in equal eighth.
Defending champion Tiffany Chan (70) of Hong Kong ended joint 13th while first-round leader Ainil Bakar of Malaysia was equal 23^rd after ballooning to a final-round 78.