(25 October 2010 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
rn
A bogey at the final hole by Juli Inkster allowed Jimin Kang to capture her second LPGA victory at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. Kang&aposs final round of 6-under par 65 moved her to 9-under for the tournament, one shot better than Inkster with Sweden&aposs Maria Hjorth and Japan&aposs Mika Miyazato tied for third two shots further back.
rn
rnAs usual in three round tournaments there was a logjam at the top of the leaderboard going into the final day. Hjorth and Korea’s Jee Young Lee led the way at 6-under par with another Korean, Song-Hee Kim one shot behind. Three players, Inkster, Miyazato and America’s Natalie Gulbis were at 4-under while Kang was three behind in a group of four.
rn
rnKang, playing in the third last group made a positive start with three birdies and a bogey on her outward nine to close the gap to two shots on Hjorth who moved to 7-under par through nine holes. Inkster had also closed the gap to be just one behind with nine to play. Of the others, Lee fell out of contention with three bogeys on her front nine, eventually shooting 4-over 75 to finish in a tie for 9th. She was joined by Kim who dropped four shots in three holes from the 13th to fall out of contention, while Gulbis’s title hopes diminished with a triple-bogey 8 on the 12th hole to tie for 12th after a final round 74. Miyazato picked up some late birdies but was never really the hunt finishing tied third.
rn
rnIt was in the middle of the back nine where the leaderboard started to change dramatically. Inkster started her charge at the 13th hole with a birdie to move back to 6-under. She followed that up with three straight birdies on holes 15,16 and 17. Meanwhile, Kang had moved to 6-under with a birdie at the 12th and added two more at the 15th and 16th holes to move to 8-under par. Hjorth had 
dropped a shot on the 14th and couldn’t find the necessary birdies to get back in contention. Another bogey at the 18th saw her drop to a tie for 3rd.
rn
rnIn the end, it all came down to the 18th hole. Kang, in the group in front of Inkster rolled in a downhill putt from 12-feet for her 3rd birdie in her last four holes to move to 9-under par. She then had to wait while Inkster played the same hole, at that stage tied for the lead. Unfortunately for her, she left her ¾ wedge out to the right in the greenside bunker and needed to get up-and-down to force a playoff. She nearly holed her bunker shot but it rolled on by and she couldn’t make the putt coming back and the title was Kang’s.
rn
rnAfter her win, when asked how she felt, Kang said, “Speechless. That’s not that easy to do for me. It’s been a while, so I’m trying to soak this in. Oh, my god, I can’t believe I won.” With the $270,000 winner’s cheque she moved up to 20th on the Official Money List and will definitely improve her Rolex World Ranking from her current No.99.
rn
rnOnly Katherine Hull and Frances Bondad made the field for the limited field event. Hull, in good form couldn’t quite match her play of recent week’s yet still managed a very respectable tie for 18th after rounds of 70,74 and 70. Bondad, having gained a sponsor’s invitation to her first LPGA event acquitted herself well in daunting company. After a shaky start that included a double-bogey on two of her first three holes she held it together until the final day. Unfortunately, a final round of 81 soured what was great experience playing with the world’s best players for the young Sydneysider.
rn
rnThe players move on to South Korea this week for the US$1.8million LPGA Hana Bank Championship Presented by SK Telecom in Incheon. ALPG will be represented by Katherine Hull and Lindsey Wright with Sarah-Jane Smith sitting in the unenviable position of second alternate.