Lydia Ko finishes 3rd at Australian Women's Open

17 Feb 2013
see also: Kingston Heath Golf Club, Lydia Ko Profile
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CANBERRA, Australia (Feb. 17, 2013) -- Rolex World Number 8 Korean Jiyai Shin held on to win the 2013 ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open by two strokes in front of a packed gallery at Royal Canberra Golf Club, Yarralumla.

Shin, a runner-up at the Open in 2008, claimed the first LPGA Tour event of the year after a final round 1-under par 72 to hold off Taiwanese World Number 1 Yani Tseng who fired a closing round 7-under par 66 to finish second.

“Well, finally I win in Australia so I’m really happy about that and well, I was so nervous this morning because on this course I had a good chance for birdie but also a lot make it hard to keep the par,” Shin said.

“I missed a few greens today but my chip shot was great and I had a good up and down out there. So well I believe - and then when I come through the 18th, the green, so many people were down there so I felt it was amazing to walk through the 18th.”

Tseng said she was pleased with her performance and runner-up finish.

“I was always feeling good here and I tried my best today. I think today I got some pretty good lucky bounces too, because I didn’t drive as well like last few days but I got some good bounces, kick on the fairway, hit the tree, bounced to the fairway, so it’s kind of really lucky. To finish 7 under, I’m very happy for whole week. On the last hole I just tried a little bit too hard,” Tseng said.

World Number 1 amateur Lydia Ko finished with a 3-over par 76 to finish third and was philosophical about her final round and last fortnight.

“Obviously there are points and aspects where I do need to learn. Like, to me, today I think I realised that you know, after a bad hole it kind of carried onto the next hole. Like you can see, Jiyai Shin didn’t really matter what she had on one hole, the next hole it was pretty fresh. So those are the kind of aspects I learnt. You know, I played with some big names out there this week, I was very privileged to play with them,” Ko said.

Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn finished in a tie with Spain’s Beatriz Recari at 13-under par while France’s Gwladys Nocera finished in a tie for sixth with Spain’s Carlota Ciganda at 12-under.

Queensland’s Katherine Hull-Kirk was the leading Australian, finishing in a four-way tie at 11-under par.

Shin, Tseng and Jutanugarn have all earned places in the LPGA Tour’s season-ending CME Group Titleholders tournament in November in Naples, Florida.

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