Lee Da-yeon captured her second title of the year with a dominant six-stroke victory in the Asiana Airlines Open.
Lee Da-yeon proved too strong for her rivals at Weihai Point.
A day after shooting 66 at the acclaimed Weihai Point Golf Resort layout in Shandong Province, the 21-year-old Korean closed with a six-under 65. That gave her a 54-hole total of 10-under 203 in the China LPGA-LPGA of Korea Tour co-sanctioned event.
The victory was worth KRW140 million (about RMB821,434) to Lee who extended the dominance of Koreans at the tournament to seven straight years.
Compatriot Cho Jeong-min was a distant second after a 69, while Choi Hye-jin, the Korean teenager who leads the KLPGA Tour Order of Merit, was third on 210 following a 68. Zhang Weiwei (72) was the top Chinese in equal 13th place, 14 shots off of the winning score.
With the Golfplan-designed course wet from rain in the morning, Lee, winner of last month’s Korea Ladies Open, made the most of the soft conditions.
Starting the day with a two-shot lead, Lee made a birdie-three at the 345-yard second hole and picked up further strokes at holes five and eight to make the turn at seven-under. She added three more birdies on the back nine en route to her fourth career KLPGA Tour title.
“Heading into the week, my focus was on hitting accurate tee shots. I am very happy to do a great job on this aspect,” said Lee, who set herself a target of two wins in 2019. “I didn’t expect that I would achieve my goal so quickly. Now I have two wins, including one major win, before the first half season, I need a new goal.”
It was the second year in succession that Cho finished runner-up at the tournament. “You feel disappointed when you are not a winner. But I made some mistakes down the stretch and Lee played great and had a bogey-free day,” said Cho who started the week second on the KLPGA Tour money list.
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