(Incheon, South Korea)
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Australia&aposs Katherine Hull came agonisingly close to notching her second LPGA victory at the Hana Bank KOLON Championship on Sunday. However, it wasn&apost to be, with Taiwan&aposs Candie Kung finishing one-shot better at 6-under par total 210 to take the first place cheque of US$240,000.00. In joint third place were Sweden&aposs Sophie Gustafson and a trio of Koreans; Hee-Won Han, Jeong Jang and Jee-Young Lee.
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Hull, who began the tournament with a course record 6-under par 66 fell back to a tie for 9th at 2-under after a second round 4-over par 76. Heading into the final round, she was one of 16 players within four shots of the leader In-Kyung Kim, at 5-under par.
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Kung started the final day at 3-under and was part of a bunched leading pack at 4-under on the front nine, before she reached the par-5 9th hole. Here, she produced something special that would see her take the lead that she wouldn’t let go of for the rest of the afternoon. From 76-yards she hit her lob wedge into the hole for an eagle that took her to the winning score of 6-under par. She then reeled off 6 pars before moving further ahead at the 16th with another birdie. However, she quickly gave one back at the next before a safe par on the last sealed victory.
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Hull had played the front nine in 9 straight pars and was seemingly out of the tournament saying she “didn’t get anything going”. She hadn’t made a birdie in 27 holes but soon enough things clicked. She birdied 10, 13, 14 and 16 to go along with a bogey at the 12th, pushing her up the leaderboard, just one shot shy of Kung. A lipped out birdie putt on the 18th finally put paid to her challenge but her runner-up finish was her seventh Top-10 of an extremely satisfying year for Australia’s No.2 ranked golfer. In her interview she said, “The last part of the season has obviously been really good and it’s nice to know the hard work has paid off.”
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In the end however, it was Kung’s day as she wrapped up her 4th career victory, and her first since 2003 when she won three tournaments and finished 6th on the Money List. Afterwards she said, “It’s been a long time and I’m just so happy to be back in that winning circle again. I’ve been pretty close a few times this year. I’ve got a few more tournaments left and hopefully I can do it again”. The win sees her move up to 17th on the Official Money List while Hull moved to 12th in her best year since turning professional.
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Lindsey Wright was the only other ALPG player in the field, finishing 65th at 15-over par 231. She will be joined at this week’s US$1.4million Mizuno Classic in Japan by Australians Nikki Campbell, Rachel Hetherington and Karrie Webb.