wuhan: Thailand has introduced many excellent players to the world stage in recent years and Saranporn Langkulgasettrin is looking good to be the next one.
The 17-year-old Phuket native won her 10th title as a professional yesterday when she closed with a four-under-par 68 for a four-stroke victory at the Orient Masters Wuhan Challenge.
Saranporn finished on 13-under 203 in Hubei province.
Her score bettered the tournament record by five strokes and it was the first time a player had shot three rounds in the 60s to win the event.
Saranporn's first China LPGA Tour victory was worth RMB75,000 (approximately 370,000 baht).
"It was amazing today. At first I thought I was going to lose control because Lee Solar hit it good on the first few holes. But I got back to my game, today I've got it."
China's Ye Liying carded a 67, the low round of the day, to finish runner-up, two strokes ahead of Thai Kanyalak Preedasuttijit (69).
Fellow Thai Parinda Phokan (70) and South Korean Lee Solar were equal fourth at seven shots back.
First-round leader Munchin Keh (73) of New Zealand was sixth.
Starting the day with a one-shot lead, Saranporn opened with a bogey five at the 358-yard first hole.
The teenager then played par golf through the eighth hole before carding three birdies over four holes starting from the ninth.
She picked up further shots with birdies on the 16th and 18th holes.
"When I got the first bogey of the day I was kind of confused, kind of upset with myself, like what's going on here? I just talked to myself on the course and thought why do you hit like this? I realised maybe I just put too much pressure on myself, so release the pressure and get back to my game."
Saranporn, who has eight wins on the domestic Thailand tour and another in the Philippines, said her goal now was to prepare for the LPGA Tour qualifying school later in the year.
She praised her father for his guidance and said her prize money would go to him.
"I'm just going to say hey, thank you for helping me as always. He's always helping me in everything. He's my friend, my dad, my coach, my manager, sometime also my brother," she said with a laugh.
After carding bogeys at holes six and eight, Kanyalak finished strongly with five birdies over the last 10 holes for her third top-10 finish, including two top threes, in six China LPGA Tour starts this year.
"I hit it pretty close to the pins and made the putts today," said the rookie pro who lost in a play-off to amateur Liu Wenbo at the Zhangjiangang Shuangshan Challenge in April.
"I didn't even know I finished top three again, it's something I didn't expect. I think I can win, but I would need to go back and prepare my game even more. I need to improve my putting and tee shots. My tees shots aren't up to the level I know they should be."
Veteran Ye also started with a bogey five on the first hole but quickly rebounded to post a strong round featuring six birdies for her best result of the year.
The 38-year-old Fujian native said she was able to play a relaxing round of golf in the second-to-last group.
"I played stress-free golf. I am happy with this. It's been a long while," said the winner of the 2011 Shanghai Classic."