CANBERRA, Australia (Feb. 17, 2013) -- Rolex
World Number 8 Korean Jiyai Shin held
on to win the 2013 ISPS Handa Women’s
Australian Open by two strokes in front of a
packed gallery at Royal Canberra Golf Club,
Yarralumla.
Shin, a runner-up at the Open in 2008, claimed
the first LPGA Tour event of the year
after a final round 1-under par 72 to hold off
Taiwanese World Number 1 Yani Tseng
who fired a closing round 7-under par 66 to
finish second.
“Well, finally I win in Australia so I’m really
happy about that and well, I was so
nervous this morning because on this course I
had a good chance for birdie but also
a lot make it hard to keep the par,” Shin said.
“I missed a few greens today but my chip shot
was great and I had a good up and
down out there. So well I believe - and then
when I come through the 18th, the
green, so many people were down there so I
felt it was amazing to walk through the
18th.”
Tseng said she was pleased with her
performance and runner-up finish.
“I was always feeling good here and I tried my
best today. I think today I got some
pretty good lucky bounces too, because I
didn’t drive as well like last few days but I
got some good bounces, kick on the fairway,
hit the tree, bounced to the fairway,
so it’s kind of really lucky. To finish 7 under,
I’m very happy for whole week. On
the last hole I just tried a little bit too hard,”
Tseng said.
World Number 1 amateur Lydia Ko finished with
a 3-over par 76 to finish third and
was philosophical about her final round and last
fortnight.
“Obviously there are points and aspects where
I do need to learn. Like, to me,
today I think I realised that you know, after a
bad hole it kind of carried onto the
next hole. Like you can see, Jiyai Shin didn’t
really matter what she had on one
hole, the next hole it was pretty fresh. So
those are the kind of aspects I learnt.
You know, I played with some big names out
there this week, I was very privileged
to play with them,” Ko said.
Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn finished in a tie
with Spain’s Beatriz Recari at 13-under
par while France’s Gwladys Nocera finished in a
tie for sixth with Spain’s Carlota
Ciganda at 12-under.
Queensland’s Katherine Hull-Kirk was the
leading Australian, finishing in a four-way
tie at 11-under par.
Shin, Tseng and Jutanugarn have all earned
places in the LPGA Tour’s season-ending
CME Group Titleholders tournament in
November in Naples, Florida.
View results for Australian Women's Open
ABOUT THE Australian Women's Open
72 hole stroke play championship for professionals
and amateurs.
View Complete Tournament Information