Taiwanese uses hot final round start to be Masters champ
LIPA CITY—Ching Huang stepped on the gas hard right out of the gates on Friday and ran away with the $200,000 (around P11.6 million) ICTSI Philippine Ladies Masters title after closing out with a six-under-par 66 that left everyone else in her wake.
The 30-year-old Taiwanese ace drained five of her eight birdies for a 31, coming out that even two back-nine bogeys couldn’t allow anyone else to make a game out of it late in the final round as South Koreans who dominated action in the first two days settled for the next four places on the leaderboard.
Counting rounds of 70 and 69, Huang tallied an impressive 54-hole 205 over the windswept, well-manicured layout, replicating her victory in Tagaytay eight years ago, where similar conditions prevailed over the Midlands layout.
“I’m really happy because I didn’t expect to win here again,” Huang said after her fifth career title and first since that Midlands romp. “I just did my best in the first round and told myself that if I could sustain my game, I had a chance to become champion.
“Everything just clicked,” she went on. “With so many strong players in the field, I knew I had to play well to win.”
Kang Jeong-hyeon, who started the day a stroke ahead of Huang, submitted a second straight 71 to finish four shots behind, with Hwang Yeon-seo, Kang Ji-sun and first-round leader Lee Yun-seo shooting 71, 69 and 70, in that order, to check in five strokes off the Taiwanese champ.
Best Filipino
Daniella Uy finished as the best Filipino in the 126-strong field, with a closing 72 giving her a level 216, 11 shots out of the winning score.
Chanelle Avaricio cracked par for the first time this week, with a 69, giving her a 219, with Princess Superal shooting a 72 to finish another two shots back in a tie for 34th spot.
Huang dropped her first shot on the 10th, a hole she birdied the first two days. She remained composed, though, as she rebounded with her sixth birdie on the next.
“I was nervous,” said Huang. “I just focused on keeping my tempo, taking it one shot at a time and trying to match how I played in the second round.”
