American teenager Lexi Thompson carded a two-under 69 on Sunday to clinching the second title of her career as she cruised to a four-shot victory at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. She finished at 19-under 265 for the four rounds.
Last week’s winner, China’s Shanshan Feng, gave chase but could only muster to finish second at 15-under 269 after carding a bogey-free four-under 67. World’s No. 2 Suzann Pettersen (70) and 36-hole leader Ilhee Lee shared third place three strokes back at 12-under.
It was only fitting that on the same week that New Zealand 16-year-old phenom Lydia Ko turned pro and petitioned membership to the LPGA, it was Thompson (who two years ago was granted her card as a 16-yeard-old) won the tournament on schedule.
Thompson overcame a shaky start that saw her bogey the second hole to fall to 16-under, just two shots ahead of Lee who was at 14-under at the moment. But after she made the turn, she pressed the pedal to the metal stringing three straight birdies that all but sealed her victory, as she reached 19-under and opened a four shot margin over Lee.
Lee fell out of contention with bogeys at 13 and 14 dropping seven shots behind.
Feng had made two birdies at the first and sixth holes to move to 13-under, but was unable to pile the pressure on Thompson as she reeled off nine pars in a row. She would birdie the 16th hole to get to 14-under, but Thompson, playing one the last group, right after Feng’s, would birdie that hole to move to 20-under.
Thompson would bogey 17th and par the 18th to complete her day. Feng would birdie the 18th to complete her flawless day. She just had a hill too steep to climb.
Pettersen was playing catch up all day. She fell way out after a double bogey at the Par-4 second, dropping to nine-under, seven behind Thompson. A back nine of 33 that included four birdies and one bogey saw her close for the share of third place.
South Korea’s Amy Yang, who shared Sunday’s lowest round honors with fellow South Korean Na Yeon Choi and Germany’s Sandra Gal at 66, finished in solo fifth place at 10-under.
Gal (66), World’s No. 3 American Stacy Lewis (69), South Korean Chella Choi (67), Spain’s Beatriz Recari (69), France’s Karine Icher (71) and Americans Morgan Pressel (67) and Alison Walshe (69) shared sixth place at eight-under to round up the Top 10 finishers.
The World’s No. 1 player, Inbee Park, was the defending champ but she finished at one-under T-32nd after rounds of 70-71-69-73.
Thompson set the tournament record for the lowest winning score at 19-under-par 265, beating the previous best total as well as the Korean grip on the event set by Park In last year and Na Yeon Choi in 2011 at 15-under. Kang Jimin was the inaugural winner in 2010.
For the win, Thompson collected the US$300,000 winner's cheque and a trophy from the Malaysian Queen, Tuanku Sultanah Hajjah Haminah binti Hamidun. She said it has been a great experience here in Malaysia and is privileged to have won the title.
“Just a bunch of happiness for sure, Words cannot describe how I am feeling right now. It is like a rerun of my previous win in 2011,” said the World Number 21 teenager. “This is indeed a big win for me. I have put in so much hard work over the months, improving on my short game in particular ... it just had to pay off.
“I will continue to work hard and try to win as many tournaments as possible. I will have the same attitude going into every tournament,” she added.
The LPGA is in the midst of their Asian swing and next week will go to Incheon in South Korea for the 12th edition of the LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship. Suzann Pettersen is the defending champ and she has won that tournament twice.