(17 October 2011 – Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan)
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Japan&aposs Saiki Fujita pulled off a one-shot victory over defending champion Sun-Ju Ahn at the Fujitsu Ladies on Sunday. Fujita&aposs final round of 2-under par 70 saw her finish at 7-under par, one shot ahead of Ahn. Meanwhile Tamie Durdin produced her best performance of the year finishing in a tie foe third after rounds of 68, 75 and 68. Asako Fujimoto and Mihoko Iseri tied Durdin at 5-under par.
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rnFujita and Ahn started the final round in a group of four players who were one shot out of the lead held by Mayu Hattori. It promised to be a dogfight of a last day on the tight Tokyu 700 course.
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rnHattori started the day with two straight bogeys and never recovered all day, firing a final round 4-over par 76 to slide to a tied 13th finish. Meanwhile Fujita started on fire with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes to open up a handy early lead with making bogey on the same two holes. However, Ahn didn’t win the Money List title last year without good reason and she bounced back with two birdies straight away to not allow Fujita to get out of sight.
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rnBy the time they made the turn, Fujita was still two in front of Ahn. The biggest challenge was coming from Durdin up ahead who had mixed five birdies and a bogey in her first twelve holes to be tied for second, two behind Fujita. When Durdin made birdie at the 15th, she 
was just one off the pace however an untimely bogey at the 17th saw her fall to 5-under where she would finish. The title was basically to be fought out between Fujita and Ahn.
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rnFujita had forged a three shot cushion with a birdie at the 10th hole but gave back most of her advantage with bogey at both the 11th and 14th holes. Meanwhile Ahn was playing the more consistent golf and with birdies at the 13th and 15th holes drew level with Fujita with three holes to play.
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rnBoth players made regulation pars at the 16th before Ahn uncharacteristically let her chance slip by with a bogey at the 17th. Fujita headed to the 18th with a one stroke lead and when both players could only make par, the title was hers. It was her fifth career win and first since the 2010 Japan LPGA Championship earning her ¥14.4 million.
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rnAfter her round Fujita said, “I let my chance to win slip away several times earlier in the season, so I told myself: not this week. I just played with heart down the stretch.”
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rnAhn may have come up short for once but she tightened her grip on her second consecutive money title by finishing alone in second. She now leads the race for the title of Money Queen by ¥37,476,362 (approx. AU$469,110) from Sakura Yokomine.
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rnDurdin’s finish was an important one, moving her up from the mid-50’s to 43rd on the Money List, with only the Top-50 automatically keeping their card for 2012. Nikki Campbell also turned around some indifferent form finishing in a tie for 8th at 3-under par.