South Korea’s Ji-young Park captured her fifth KLPGA Tour title on Sunday after heavy rain washed out the third and final round of the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women’s Open on Sunday.
Ji-young’s strong opening 36-hole display at the Tanah Merah Country Club’s Tampines Course, where she shot rounds of 66 and 67 to reach 11-under-par 133, was good enough to crown her as the winner of the Tour’s season-opening event.
Ji-young won by just one shot from the trio of Jung-min Hong, So-young Lee and Hyun-kyung Park, who had led Friday’s first round.
Only 21 out of 67 players scheduled to tee off the final round were out on the course when the play was first halted at 8.50am.
The earliest group of six players that teed off at 8am managed to complete just three holes. With rain battering and drenching the course, the organisers waited it out for hours, hoping they would still be able to resume play at 12pm and complete the round.
However, at approximately 11.15pm, the organisers decided that the result would be decided on 36-hole scores.
“It feels very special indeed to be winning a tournament for the first time in 36 holes,” said Ji-young after cashing in a cool S$198,000 for her feat.
“I did accomplish some come-from-behind victories previously, but never once from a shortened tournament, so it’s really different.
“A win is always fulfilling regardless of how I attained it.
“I’m really happy and proud to be the inaugural winner of the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women’s Open.
“I put in a lot of effort to improve my game and I’m so glad that it paid off this week.”
With a victory in the bag, Ji-young is raising the bar for herself in the new season by securing multiple wins for the first time in her career.
“I have never won more than a title in a season, so this is something that I’ll be seeking to achieve,” said Ji-young, who had won the Mediheal Championship in April for her only title in the 2022 season.
Yun-ji Jeong was in outright fifth on 135 with So-mi Lee, Hee-jeong Lim and Hae Rym Kim a shot back.
Thailand’s world number three Atthaya Thitikul, the highest-ranked player in the 102-woman field settled for joint-ninth with six others including world number 14 Min-ji Park.
Shannon Tan made the host country proud by emerging as the best-placed amateur, finishing tied for 53rd on one-under-par 143.
The Singaporean is the only one among the seven amateur amateurs in the fray to make the cut after coming back strongly with a 67 on the second day.
“This prize means a lot to me because this is the first time I have made the cut in a professional event,” said Tan after receiving the trophy.
“And I can’t ask for a better place to accomplish it than in our very own national Open.”
