Shanshan Feng is no stranger to the winner’s circle as this is her fifth win on the LPGA Tour and first since winning the 2014 Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.
Shanshan Feng is no stranger to the winner’s circle as this is her fifth win on the LPGA Tour and first since winning the 2014 Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.
Feng (-17) shot a final round 67 that proved to be just enough to grab her first victory of 2016 season as she defeated Suzann Pettersen by three-strokes at this year’s Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.
“It feels great,” Feng said. “My record here is really good, especially the past four years. I had a very fantastic week, every time I come back here, it makes me feel like I’m at home. I’m really relaxed and I love everything, love the food, love the people. So I’m really looking forward to come back every year.”
Feng started the day with a bogey on the first hole but recovered nicely with birdies on two of her first five holes, finishing out the round with three birdies on the back nine.
The eventual winner started the day with a two-shot lead after a 64 in the third round. Feng has been one of the LPGA’s hottest players of late, with top-4 finishes in each of her last four starts.
Pettersen finished solo second at 14-under par. Defending champion Jessica Korda after a slow start in Malaysia finished strong with final round 70 to share 12th place.
Although Paula Creamer couldn’t build off her sizzling 64 on Saturday (she shot a 3-under-par 68 Sunday and finished eight shots back of the lead), she still had a very steady weekend, and locked up her third top-10 finish of the year – but her first since March.
“This has been a crazy year for me. It looks like I'm very far away from being good, but I'm really not that far away. I'm very close. I proved it yesterday, and today I played pretty solid,” said Creamer. “Overall, this is kind of what we've been looking for and hopefully I can continue to keep it going.”
Creamer can’t recall the last time she played five tournaments in a row, but given the recent work she’s put in with her coach, and how much she wants to keep working on her game, she’ll be in the field for the rest of the tournaments this season.
“I'm going to be playing all the tournaments till the end of the year. I need to do it; I need to get on the golf course and play and this is kind of what I wanted,” she stated, “I know if I keep continuing this, hopefully I can get a win under my belt by the end of the year.”
Creamer, long known as The Pink Panther, was happy to see so much pink in the crowds at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia as well, as the tournament is a robust supporter of breast cancer.
“That's why we all keep coming back. If it wasn't good, then I don't think you would see many players here, but Malaysia treats us well,” she said. “The golf course here is wonderful. It's tough and it's tricky when the wind starts to pick up. It's nice to see everybody in pink and especially for a great cause, promoting and supporting breast cancer.”
Lydia Ko beat Ariya Jutanugarn by nine shots this week, and that difference (Ko finished T12 while Jutanugarn was T43) meant Ko, already a four-time winner this year, leapfrogged Jutanugarn for the lead in the money list – by just $4,000 – and is a mere 50 points behind the five-time winner for the Race to the CME Globe.
“Ariya has been playing great and she's consistently putting herself in good positions and that's what I've been trying to do. I think we both have two events left. I think we're going to go to the very end. But whatever happens, I think it's a year and a season that I'm proud of,” said Ko. “I'm going to hope for a good finish the next two weeks.”
Even though Ko didn’t play well in South Korea last week – her T51 finish was her worst of the season – she felt like there were a lot of positives this week.
“I didn't really play well in Korea the couple weeks before, but it just shows that I can have the confidence and even though after an okay first day, I could still put myself back in the mix,” she explained. “I think there's still a lot of positive the out there. It was good to see those birdies and those putts.”
Ko also had a fine week with her local caddie, Guna Sargunan. She’ll have another new caddie on the bag next time she tees it up.
“It was a lot of fun working with Guna. I think a lot of people came out to not only watch me but to see him in action too,” said Ko with a smile. “It was really good, and obviously all the best to him when he goes back to his player.”
Credit-LPGA
Nike's Suzann Pettersen Spotted With New Clubs. Read More
