China's Zhang Weiwei completed a wire-to-wire victory at the Trust Golf Thailand LPGA Masters yesterday as the Hubei native became the first player to win four times in a season on the China LPGA Tour.
The 22-year-old opened with an eagle three at the first hole, one of the two she made on the front nine, on her way to a three-under 69 for a total of 12-under 204 and a two-stroke victory over Thailand's Patcharajutar Kongkraphan at Bangkok's Panya Indra Golf Club.
Patcharajutar shot a 69 for 206 while China's Du Mohan (66) finished a stroke further back in third.
Zhang, who also won in Wuhan, Beijing and last weekend in Hangzhou, earned 600,000 baht in prize money at the tournament co-sanctioned by the CLPGA, Thai LPGA and the Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tours.
"This is my fourth championship this year and the sixth of my career. This back-to-back championship made me feel great," she said.
"I came here to break the record. At the beginning of the year, I set myself the goal of entering the top 250 in the world ranking and winning three championships."
Zhang, who may have played her last CLPGA Tour event of the year as she plans to attend the US and Japan tour qualifying tournaments, went into the final round with a two-stroke lead on Patcharajutar.
The eagle three at the 491-yard first hole, and another at the 483-yard sixth, proved the difference as her front nine also included a birdie at the fifth and two bogeys. Starting from the eighth hole she made pars on the next 11 holes to emerge winner.
Patcharajutar, a struggling LPGA Tour regular, turned in another strong finish in a round that featured five birdies and two bogeys.
Last month, she closed with a six-under 66 to finish joint second at the Singha-SAT Championship on the Thai LPGA Tour.
"It was a little bit slow on the back nine at the start but I ended up with three birdies [over the last five holes]. I'm happy with my result today," said the Nakhon Ratchasima native, a four-time winner on the CLPGA Tour in 2010 and 2011.
"I finished second in my last Thai event. If I just keep hitting the ball like this, it gives me more confidence. I'm going to practise the next couple of weeks in Thailand and then go to the US. I got two more LPGA events left so I will just do my best."