JAKARTA: Philippines' Princess Mary Superal held off some of the world's best golfers to claim her maiden professional international title at the inaugural Simone Asia Pacific Cup yesterday.
The 25-year-old Princess fired a glorious five-under-par 67 to finish on 12-under 204 total, winning by three shots from former US Women's Open winner Ryu So-Yeon of South Korea, who also closed with a 67.
World No.4 Lydia Ko, who trailed Princess by one at the start of the day, failed to mount a strong challenge as she signed for a 70 to finish four shots behind the champion.
"It's pretty special to me because this is my first international win as a professional," said Princess, who pocketed a cool US$100,000 for the biggest paycheque of her career. "I've been waiting for this moment to arrive. I'm very happy."
Playing alongside the more illustrious Ko, Princess showed no signs of nerves as she birdied three of the opening four holes to open a two-shot lead and never looked back since.
She picked up her fourth and fifth birdie of the day on holes 10 and 15 to finish with a bogey-free scorecard at the Pondok Indah Golf Course in Jakarta, Indonesia.
"I approached the final round like the previous day. I was just minding my own business and really just wanted to focus on my game. That really helped me to secure this win."
"To be able to play with the world's top golfers, obviously I did feel nervous but happy at the same time. It's the first time I had this chance and I will cherish them," said the Filipino.
In the team competition, the title went to Team Korea 2 comprising of Ryu and Lee Bo-Mee who recorded a 11-under-par winning total.
Not even a battling 75 from Lee could stop them from claiming a four-shot win over Princess and Pauline Del Rosario of Team Philippines. New Zealand's Ko and Momoka Koburi came in third on five under.
Ryu attributed the victory to her close friendship with Lee.
"As Bomee is playing mostly on the JLPGA Tour, we haven't played together for a while. Just being here as a team was really amazing," she said.
"I had so much fun, she definitely helped me a lot when I struggled yesterday. So having a really good friendship definitely helped a lot to win this tournament."