Feng Makes History
At Inaugural LET Event
HAINAN, CHINA | It was a clean sweep for the
home nation when Chinese representatives
won the individual, team and amateur titles at
the inaugural World Ladies Championship on
Hainan Island in southern China.
World No. 12 Shanshan Feng earned a one-stroke victory in the individual stroke play event
for professionals held over 54 holes on the
Vintage Course at Mission Hills Haikou, making
history as the first player from mainland China
to win on the Ladies European Tour.
Feng, a dominant amateur in China before
turning professional, finished with a 10-under-
par total of 206 after rounds of 66, 69 and
71. That was one stroke ahead of Thailand’s
Pornanong Phatlum, with Sweden’s Pernilla
Lindberg a shot further behind in third.
Feng’s partner in the team event, Li Ying Ye,
shared fourth place on
7-under par alongside
Italian Diana Luna,
who led the tournament outright with five holes remaining. However, the former Solheim
Cup player dropped a shot at the 16th to
fall into a tie for the lead with Feng. She
then triple-bogeyed the 18th after hitting
her second shot into a water hazard
over the back of the green.
Feng and Ye won the concurrent
team event among 20 pairs, combining for a winning total of 415, 17-under
par, two ahead of the Thai pair Nontaya
Srisawang and Phatlum, with Sweden’s
Lindberg and Linda Wessberg three
Shanshan Feng at the HSBC
Women’s Champions
strokes further back in third.
Feng said: “I wasn’t really shooting a low
score today. I think at one time I was like, three
behind, but I wasn’t worried at all because I
knew I would have more chances on the back
nine and I would catch up and finally I got it.”
Feng played with Ye in the final group and
added: “It was really nice to play with her. She
is my partner this week and has always been a
nice sister to me. We chat a lot on the course
and it really helps.”
Feng, 22, from Guangzhou, won twice on the
LPGA of Japan in 2011, at the Meiji Chocolate
Cup and the Miyagi TV Dunlop Ladies Cup, but
this was her third career title as an individual
and her first on home soil.
Sixteen-year-old Chinese national team
member Jing Yan, who was born and raised in
Singapore, led the amateur field. She posted
rounds of 72, 73 and 71 for an even-par total of
216, ending the tournament two shots clear of the
next best placed amateur, world No. 1 Lydia Ko.
Yan will receive two tournament exemp-
tions. She will be offered a spot in
the Ladies European Tour’s Lalla
Meryem Cup taking place from
March 22-25 at Golf de L’Ocean
in Agadir, Morocco, and also to
play in the China Ladies Open
on the China LPGA Tour taking
place during the second week of
December.
RESULTS
