Feng wins her third Dubai Ladies Masters golf title
Chinese player makes it triple Dubai wins
Shanshan Feng secured her record third Omega Dubai Ladies Masters victory with a 21 under par winning score, 12 strokes clear of next placed Thidapa Suwannapura, at Emirates Golf Club yesterday.
Princess Haya Bint Al Hussain, wife of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, attended the prize giving ceremony to present the winner’s trophy.
“I am really delighted to win in Dubai, which is a lucky play for me,” said the 26-year-old prodigy at the presentation ceremony which was also attended by Mohammad Juma Bu Amim, Vice-Chairman and CEO of golf in DUBAi, Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of the Dubai Sports Council, and representatives of the sponsors.
The 26-year-old Chinese had been level on two victories with Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam coming into the 10th edition of this tournament, but pulled ahead by equalling her own event record winning score of 267 set in 2012.
She also beat Sorenstam’s record for biggest winning margin, which had been six strokes from the retired Swede’s 2006 victory.
“The only reason I’ve won more times than Annika is because she’s not playing anymore, so I don’t see any comparison there, I’m just happy to have won this event three times,” said Shanshan, who had also wrapped up the Ladies European Tour (LET) money-list well ahead of this year’s seasonending competition, following one earlier win and three previous top five finishes in five LET appearances this season.
Having led by five strokes at 15 under par heading into the final day, the tournament’s highest ranked player at World No 6 added a further six birdies, three on either nine, to race to victory.
Her only challenge, from Thailand’s Suwannapura, went backwards however, with a final round of 73, complete with three birdies and four bogies.
“At the first hole I was nervous because I thought Thidapa had a chance to catch me,” added Shanshan. “But after two birdies in the first three holes to go up to 17 under and seven strokes clear ... I just started enjoying it.”
Asked if she was disappointed that she couldn’t surpass her own record-winning score of 21 under to make it not only three wins but a hat-trick of records, she replied: “I was just hoping to get to 20 under at the beginning of the day and when I got to that on 14 I thought I’d try to make one or two more. I got the
Having led by five strokes at 15 under par heading into the final day, the tournament’s highest ranked player at World No 6 added a further six birdies, three on either nine, to race to victory.
birdie at the last to equal the record. Twenty one under is still pretty good, I’ve been playing really consistent with three 67s, today was one less, a 66, so I’m really happy about it.
“Twenty one under was one lower than what I was going for and the 21 under par record from last time was still me, right? So, it’s the same person.”
Emily Pedersen immediately went about setting new targets after winning the Rookie of the Year Award at the Ladies European Tour (LET) season-ending Omega Dubai Ladies Masters on Saturday.
The 19-year-old Dane had come into this tournament with a €30,000 (Dh120,717) lead over compatriot Nanna Madsen on the money-list.
Madsen, 22, would have needed to finish second in the hope that Pedersen dropped to below eighth in this tournament if she were to overtake her rival at the final hurdle.
But in the end Madsen finished tied for 40th at three over par with four round scores of 70, 73, 76, 72, 291. Pedersen, meanwhile, finished tied for 17th at two under par with scores of 69, 78, 70, 69, 286.
“It feels really good to win the Rookie of the Year,” said Pedersen, who got one win and five top ten finishes in 14 events this season.
“This is something I’ve wanted. It’s something you only get once in your life, so it’s a very big honour for me and I’m very happy.”
Asked what she wanted to go on to achieve in her career after such a solid start, she replied: “I want to be the World No. 1 one day. Hopefully I’ll win the Order of Merit on the LET and LPGA and there will be a lot more victories on both tours.”
Indian turnaround
She added that her lone win at the Indian Open in October, which had enabled her to overtake Madsen in the money-list, had proven to be the turning point, and said that it had ultimately left Madsen with too much to do.
“The win in India came at a great time with only two tournaments left. I think I played two or three less tournaments than her, so obviously my win did a lot. I had two secondplace finishes and a lot of top ten finishes as well, so it was a decent year.
“It was a lot to ask of Nanna [to finish at least second]. She would have had to have delivered the best result of her season,” she added of Madsen, who made six top ten finishes in 16 events this season. “But I know she’s a decent player and I know she could do it. It’s always a possibility with a good player like her.”
Both Pedersen and Madsen had rebuffed reporters’ questions on the rookie race all week, with the standard reply that they weren’t really thinking about it. But Pedersen admitted that when she hit 78 in round two on Thursday and Madsen temporarily overtook her in the leaderboard with a 73, the prospect of losing the rookie award had crossed her mind.
Pulling up her socks
“I was saying to myself: ‘Emily, do you really want to miss the cut in the last tournament and just walk around for two days hoping that Nanna doesn’t play good?’ I wanted to act and to do my best for myself and not depend on others.
“A lot of spectators were cheering for Nanna and I was thinking about the Rookie award and getting a good result too much, instead of just focusing on my golf.
“I hit bad shots and got insecure instead of taking control of the situation. It’s a big mistake but I obviously learnt from it and came back in the last two rounds.”
Madsen said: “It was too much to ask of me [to finish second], especially because I played so bad the last couple of months. In the middle of the season I was leading by €80,000, but then she caught me and I haven’t played very well since. I’m looking forward to next season to just start over again. I’m pretty tired of this season now. It’s just good there’s a new season.”