Shin wins Singapore HSBC Womens Golf Classic

Korean Jiyai Shin played a faultless final round to win the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore at the Tanah Merah Country Club. Starting the final day six shots behind the overnight leader of, Katherine Hull, Shin birdied the first four holes to close the gap quickly.

Shin who is ranked 4th in the world takes home a purse of US$300,000.

Shin showed class and poise to seal the championship with her approach shot on the 18th. Playing from 180 yards on the par 4, Shin found the green with comfort and was left with a 30 foot putt to seal victory. Despite running her putt well past the hole, Shin sunk the putt to par and finish with 6 under for the day and 11 under for the tournament.

The championship took an interesting turn midway through the final round when Katherine Hull boogied the 10th hole and then two holes later followed with another bogey. Seemingly shaken from two lost shots early on the back nine, Hull then found trouble left on the 14th fairway and had to take an unplayable lie and consequently double-boogied. These two holes took Hull from at one point a four shot lead to suddenly being level with Shin who was gaining in confidence each hole.

Hull managed a birdie on the 17th and still in contention to force a play-off should Shin falter. Hull’s final tee-shot again showed the difficulties she had been experiencing all day and pushed it right forcing another drop and effectively ending her chances. Hull finished with another boogie and 74 for the final round.

Behind Hull and Shin there was a series of interesting battles for the minor placings with Paula Creamer scoring birdie on the 16th and 17th holes and then finding trouble on her first shot on the 18th effectively ending her chance of staging an unlikely win. Her recovery from the bunker still left her short of the green and eventually finishing with a boogie and 8 under for the tournament in equal 3rd place.

World number one rated player, Mexican Lorena Ochoa, never troubled the leaders after winning last years HSBC championship and also winning last week at the tour of Thailand. Ochoa finished in sixth place with a final score of seven under. Her chance of scoring back-to-back wins faded with a disappointing second round of 73.

Another player who found difficulties in finishing the final round was Sun Young Yoo who boogied three consecutive hole starting at the 13th dropping her from second place to eighth. Yoo scored a much needed birdie on the 17th to finish tied for sixth with Jane Park and Lorena Ochoa

HSBC Womens Championship Final Standings

StandingPlayerFinal RoundScore1Jiyai Shin6 Under11 Under2Katherine Hull2 Over9 UnderT3Angela Park4 Under8 UnderT3Paula Creamer2 Under8 UnderT3Angela Stanford1 Over8 UnderT6Jane park2 Under7 UnderT6Lorena Ochoa2 Under7 UnderT6Sun Young Yoo1 Over7 UnderT9Karrie Webb6 Under6 UnderT9Mi Hyun Kim1 Over6 Under