Philippines’ Princess Mary Superal held off some of the world’s best golfers to claim her maiden professional international title at the inaugural Simone Asia Pacific Cup.
The 25-year-old Princess fired a glorious five-under-par 67 to finish on 12-under-par 204 total, winning by three shots from former US Women’s Open winner So Yeon Ryu of South Korea, who also closed with a 67.
World number four Lydia Ko, who trailed Princess by one at the start of the day, failed to mount a strong challenge as she signed for a 70 to finish four shots behind the champion.
“It’s pretty special to me because this is my first international win as a professional,” said Princess, who pocketed a cool USD $100,000 for the biggest paycheck of her career.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment to arrive. I’m very happy.”
Playing alongside the more illustrious Ko, Princess showed no signs of nerves as she birdied three of the opening four holes to open a two-shot lead and never looked back since.
She picked up her fourth and fifth birdie of the day on holes 10 and 15 to finish with a bogey-free scorecard at the Pondok Indah Golf Course in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“I approached the final round like the previous day. I was just minding my own business and really just wanted to focus on my game. That really helped me to secure this win.”
“To be able to play with the world’s top golfers, obviously I did feel nervous but happy at the same time. It’s the first time I had this chance and I will cherish them,” said the Filipino.
South Korea’s So Yeon Ryu and Bomee Lee won the team competition at the inaugural Simone Asia Pacific Cup
In the team competition, the title went to Team Korea 2 comprising of Ryu and Bomee Lee who recorded a 11-under-par winning total.
Not even a battling 75 from Lee could stop them from claiming a four-shot win over Princess and Pauline Del Rosario of Team Philippines. New Zealand’s Ko and Momoka Koburi came in third on five-under-par.
Ryu attributed the victory to her close friendship with Lee.
“As Bomee is playing mostly on the JLPGA Tour, we haven’t played together for a while. Just being here as a team was really amazing.”
“I had so much fun, she definitely helped me a lot when I struggled yesterday. So having a really good friendship definitely helped a lot to win this tournament,” said Ryu.
With an individual title and team runners-up in the bag for the Philippines this week, Princess and Del Rosario have also certainly repaid the tremendous support shown by their countrymen.
This comes after a video of a Filipino idol group ‘SB Talent Camp’ performing the K-Cheer Challenge amassed a whopping 2.5 million views after it was posted just five days ago.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Alyaa Abdulghany posted rounds of 79-79-74 for total 232 to finish joint 34th while Natasha Oon carded rounds of 79-84-90 for total 253 and 43th position. The duo finished second last in the team event.
Final Round Scores
204: Princess Mary SUPERAL (PHI) 66-71-67
207: So Yeon RYU (KOR) 65-75-67
208: Lydia KO (NZL) 66-72-70
213: Patcharajutar KONGKRAPHAN (THA) 70-73-70, Kokona SAKURAI (JPN) 70-75-68
214: Patricia SINOLUNGAN [A] (INA) 71-72-71, Bomee LEE (KOR) 67-72-75
215: Karis DAVIDSON (AUS) 72-75-68, Tiffany CHAN (HKG) 73-72-70, Kristina YOKO [A] (INA) 74-72-69, Hyo Joo KIM (KOR) 72-68-75
216: You Min HWANG (KOR) 71-70-75
217:Cheng Hsuan SHIH (TPE) 72-77-68, Maria SHINOHARA (JPN) 71-72-74, Jaravee BOONCHANT (THA) 73-70-74
218: Xiang SUI (CHN) 76-73-69
219: Momoka KOBORI (NZL) 76-70-73
221: Amandeep KAUR (IND) 72-77-72, Pauline DEL ROSARIO (PHI) 75-70-76
222: Vani KAPOOR (IND) 78-70-74, Saraporn CHAMCHOI (THA) 73-76-73
223: Cassie PORTER (AUS) 80-73-70, Hinako SHIBUNO (JPN) 73-74-76, Yuli SHI (CHN) 74-74-75, Gaurika BISHNOI (IND) 77-74-72
224: Virginie DING [A] (HKG) 78-72-74, Diksha DAGAR (IND) 74-75-75, Yealimi NOH (USA) 77-72-75;
227: Hsuan Ping CHANG (TPE) 74-75-78, Aunchisa UTAMA (THA) 76-79-72
228: Kiriko SHIBUNO [A] (JPN) 75-78-75, Phu Pwint Yati KHINE [A] (MYN) 81-74-73
230: Jaymie NG [A] (SIN) 76-78-76
232: Alyaa ABDULGHANY (MAS) 74-79-79, Eimi KOGA (USA) 79-81-72
234: Aloysa ATIENZA [A] (SIN) 81-74-79, Melati PUTRI (INA) 81-78-75
235: Dea MAHENDRA (INA) 79-76-80
238: Tatiana WIJAYA (INA) 78-81-79
239: Putri Aisyah AMANI (INA) 80-76-83
241: My Thao NGUYEN (VNM) 81-80-80
250: Nghi Bao NGO (VNM) 84-83-83
253: Natasha OON (MAS) 90-84-79
254: Khin Thu THU (MYN) 86-88-80
Final Round Team Leaderboard
-11: KOREA 2
-7: PHILIPPINES
-5: NEW ZEALAND
-3: INDONESIA 3
-2: JAPAN 2
-1: KOREA 1
+3: THAILAND 2
+6: AUSTRALIA
+7: HONG KONG
+9: CHINA
+11: INDIA 2
+12: THAILAND 1, CHINESE TAIPEI
+15: Team INDIA 1
+19: JAPAN 1
+24: USA
+32: SINGAPORE
+40: INDONESIA 1
+42: INDONESIA 2
+50: MYANMAR
+53: MALAYSIA
+59: VIETNAM
