at 3-under, tied with American Gerina Piller,
who played 9-under over a 19-hole stretch to
share the lead at 5 under. A costly double-bogey
at the 17th hole ended her threat. Still, she
recorded her best career finish (T6).
Feng, who carded a bogey-free round, iced
the tournament with a six-foot birdie putt at the
par- 5 17th hole. For some time now, she has
seemed on the verge of victory on the LPGA Tour.
“You knew it was coming at some point,”
Lewis said.
Feng lost a playoff at the Mizuno Classic
in November, then opened the LPGA season
with three top-five finishes. She won the World
Ladies Championship in March on the Ladies
European Tour and three weeks ago on the
Japan LPGA. Feng climbed to No. 5 on the
Rolex Women’s Golf Rankings.
Her name will be inscribed on the championship trophy below last year’s winner, Taiwan’s
Yani Tseng, a player she said she’s battled
against as a junior, amateur and professional.
“Right now I’m still chasing her,” Feng said.
“Maybe I got a little closer.”
RESULTS
Adam Schupak
Shanshan Feng Congratulations to Shanshan Feng Connect on: lpga.com, Facebook, and Twitter.
Feng China’s
First Major
Golf Champion
PITTSFORD, NEW YORK | Shanshan Feng
swelled with pride when she heard the Chinese
national anthem played after her countrywoman
Li Na won the 2011 French Open, one of tennis’
four major championships. The People’s Republic of China will wake to discover that Feng
is a major champion, too. The 22-year-old Feng
separated herself from a packed leaderboard
with a tournament-best 5-under 67 to win the
Wegmans LPGA Championship by two strokes.
Feng, 22, became the first-ever player from
mainland China to win an LPGA Tour event. She
was born in Guangzhou in 1989, five years after
Arnold Palmer designed China’s first course.
Spurred by her father who worked at the local
golf association, Feng began playing golf at 10.
She arrived in the U.S. at 17, and her game has
blossomed under the watchful eye of instructor Gary Gilchrist. Until now, she considered
advancing through qualifying school in 2008 her
greatest achievement.
After runaway winners the last two years,
the LPGA Championship was due for some drama. Thirteen players were within three shots of
the lead going into Sunday’s final round. During
a wild back-and-forth day, five different golfers
held a share of the lead during the final round.
South Korea’s Eun-Hee Ji, the overnight leader,
Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, Japan’s Mika Miyaza-to and American Stacy Lewis shared second.
Australia’s Karrie Webb grabbed a share of
the lead with a birdie at the first hole, but her
putting touch then abandoned her. She finished
for winning the second major of the season and becoming the
first-ever player from mainland China to win an LPGA event.
