Shanshan Feng shot a final-round 63 to capture the 2019 Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic, ending a winless streak that dated to the 2017 Blue Bay LPGA.
Feng signed for a bogey-free card comprised of nine pars and nine birdies, highlighted by four-straight gains on Nos. 5-8, and four more down the stretch, including a title-clinching birdie on No. 18.
“Before I putted, I looked up at the leaderboard and I’m like, Oh, no. I had to make that one. So actually the last putt was under a lot of pressure,” said Feng.
“I was like, You know what? You’ve been doing really well this week. Just make another good putt. That’s what I did.”
The former world No. 1 Chinese star finished with a four-day total of 29-under 259, the second-lowest 72-hole score in LPGA Tour history.
“I haven’t been having a good year so far. I missed all three cuts at the first three majors, so I was, you know, kind of little lost,” said Feng.
“But I knew that I’m just making changes to get better in the future. I was trying to gain a little distance. After I gained the distance and then I kind of lost the control about the direction and the distance.
“But starting last week I felt like my iron game kind of came back. This week I think I got everything together, which is like what I said end of last week. I said, I just hope that I can be in the winning circle as soon as possible. Actually this week I did it.”
Ariya Jutanugarn finished solo second on 28-under par following a 64 which included a costly bogey-6 on the par-5 15th hole.
“Overall like my whole week was really good,” said Jutanugarn. “It’s like amazing because I didn’t expect to play that good at all, so I’m really happy about how I played.”
Tiffany Joh (67) and Amy Yang (65) were tied for third at 25-under par, one clear of Hyo Joo Kim (68), who rounded out the top 5 at 24-under.
Final Top 5 Leaders
Pos-Player-To Par (Final Rd)
1. Shanshan Feng -29 (-9)
2. Ariya Jutanugarn -28 (-8)
3. Tiffany Joh -25 (-5)
3. Amy Yang -25(-7)
5. Hyo Joo Kim -24 (-4)
