ADELAIDE: South Korea's Ko Jin-Young led all the way to win the Australian Women's Open by three shots at Adelaide's Kooyonga golf course Sunday.
Ko, 22, rolled in a short par putt at the last hole to clinch a wire-to-wire victory at 14-under to beat compatriot Choi Hye-Jin on 11-under with Australia's Hannah Green on 10-under in third place.
Ko's victory allows her to take up full LPGA Tour membership for 2018.
The Korean was ranked 20th in the world before the tournament and will likely be close to the top 10 in this week's new rankings. "My goal is to be rookie of the year," Ko said.
Thailand's world No.7 Ariya Jutanugarn closed with a three-under 69 to finish tied seventh on six-under 282. Her sister Moriya was tied 19th on three-under 285 after a 70.
It was Ariya's first top-10 finish of the year.
"I'm feeling better," she said. "I'm getting better after my first tournament."
The 22-year-old Bangkok native had a consistent week in Adelaide firing rounds of 69-72-72-69, even though she admitted the Kooyonga Golf Club is one of the toughest played on the LPGA Tour each year.
"I need to be really patient on this course… so I just wanted to go out and have fun and I did. I had so much fun this week," she said.
Ariya made a comeback on Sunday to finish in a six-way tie for seventh place. (Photo via LPGA.com)
Earlier, Ariya finished tied for 54th at the season-opener in the Bahamas, after she captured the season-finale in November at the CME Group Tour Championship. Despite the fact that she now has seven LPGA Tour victories, she said she isn't going to be focused on winning or her spot in the Rolex Rankings.
"I'm really not going to think about the outcome anymore," she said. "I'm just going to go out and have fun and make sure I do something that I can be proud of myself every day."
Ko began the tournament with a blistering seven-under 65 and was neither overtaken nor seriously threatened.
Choi was the closest, jumping out of the pack to move within two shots at the turn in the final round, and still two shots back when they came down the stretch.
Ko hit a beautiful seven-iron shot to the 17th green, where the pond on the right represented potentially her only way of losing the Open.
Then she rolled the putt down the hill and into the cup from five metres.
She fired a closing three-under par 69, starting out with two birdies that stretched her initial lead of four shots to six.
She made some mistakes along the way, but none too serious, and hit 15 of the 18 greens in regulation.
In four rounds Ko only missed 11 greens, the best result in the field.
New Zealand's former world No.1 Lydia Ko struggled home to finish joint 19th at three under after a closing par round of 72. Her second-round two-over 74 had put her out of contention on Friday.
Her opening day effort had raised hopes she could contend after making major off-season changes to her support staff. Ko replaced coach Gary Gilchrist with former PGA Tour professional Ted Oh, while Johnny Scott replaced Peter Godfrey as her caddie.