American Cheyenne Woods, the niece of Tiger Woods, managed to calm her nerves and outdueled Australian Minjee Lee on the back-nine to win the Volvik RACV Ladies Masters in Australia on Sunday for her first Ladies European Tour victory.
The 23-year-old world No. 363 from Phoenix, Arizona, entered the day with a one-shot lead and quickly added to that advantage with a birdie at the first. She gave that shot back with a bogey at the fourth, which allowed Lee to grab a share of the lead with three straight birdies from the sixth.
With defending champion Karrie Webb disqualified after her second round, Australian hopes lied on the their Amateur champion, 17-year-old Minjee Lee, to try and spoil the coming out party of the world’s most famous niece.
West Australian product Lee is no stranger to Sunday heroics. She won the US girls amateur title in 2012 while also claiming the 2013 and 2014 Australia amateur women's crown.
Lee was up to the task on Sunday when she leveled up with Woods at 12-under on the eight hole after her third straight birdie. From there on was a mano-a-mano between the two on the final 10 holes.
Woods responded immediately by scoring a birdie on the short Par-5 ninth to take a one-shot lead before making the turn. She would add another on the Par-5 12th, but Lee would match her to keep Woods in sight just one shot back.
But Woods would open some cushion between her and her feisty Amateur challenger by birdieing the Par-5 15th to take a two stroke lead that prove to be the decisive margin. Both would go on to close the tournament in style by matching birdies on the 18th, but it was all academic as Woods would earn her first win.
Since turning pro in 2012, Woods has had one tournament win in the minor Suncoast Ladies Series in the United States, but the Australian Ladies Masters victory would easily be the biggest achievement of her career.
Woods closed with a four-under 69 at RACV Royal Pines Resort in Queensland’s Gold Coast to finish at 16-under 276.
'This is a huge accomplishment for me,'' said Woods. ''European Tour has been great to be able to play this past year. I've been able to see all of these great players, play with Solheim Cup members … to be able to come out here and compete with them and come out on top was huge for me.''
Lee matched her 69 and finished two shots back at 14-under 278. Sweden’s Camilla Lennarth (70) and South African Stacy Lee Bregman (72) finished two shots further back at 12-under 280 in a share of third.
Solheim Cup heroine, Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall, shot a seven-under 66 to jump 19 spots and finish in a tie for fifth with South Korean Amateur So Young Lee (69) and her compatriot Minsun Kim (70) at nine-under 283.
Spain’s Belen Mozo had the day’s lowest round at eight-under 65 and moved up 39 spots to finish in a tie for eight at eight-under 284with American Jessica Korda (69). Former World No. 1, Yani Tseng, also moved up 39 spots with her seven-under (66) to round up the Top 10 finishers at seven-under 285, tied with England’s Charley Hull and France’s Gwladys Nocera.
Eight-time winner and defending champion Karrie Webb was disqualified from the Australian Ladies Masters golf tournament Friday for signing an incorrect scorecard after the second round. Webb signed for a second-straight 1-over 74, which would have made the cut. She quickly notified officials she had made an error, signing for par on the 12th when she had made bogey.
The Ladies European Tour’s next stop is the ISPS HANDA Australian Women’s Open next weekend that is co-sanctioned with the LPGA. The tournament will be played at the Victoria Golf Club in Victoria, Australia.