Tiffany Chan continues solid form with good finish at Thornberry Creek Classic; Feng Shanshan wins with birdie surge
- Chan cards a second straight five-under-par 67 to claim a share of 23rd place
- Builds on a career-best 13th-place finish at the end of June
The result goes down as Chan’s second best of her fledgling pro career and builds on a career-best 13th-place finish at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship at the end of June.
This is now firmly Chan’s best form since she joined the Tour last year, and she will get the chance to build on the good run when she participates in the Marathon Classic in Ohio, which gets under way on Thursday.
China’s Feng Shanshan birdied four of her final six holes to card a nine-under-par 63 and seal the victory by one shot from Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn in Wisconsin.
Ariya (64) had a three-shot lead on the back nine but a bogey on 15 proved costly as the Thai was unable to hold off the charging Feng, who finished on a whopping 29-under 259.
Feng, whose previous win came in November 2017, hit a seven iron to three feet on the last hole to set up a crucial birdie putt.
I was like, ‘You know what? You’ve been doing really well this week. Just make another good putt.’ That’s what I did
“Before I putt, I looked up at the leader board and I’m like, ‘Oh no,’ I had to make that one,” Feng told reporters.
“So actually the last putt was under a lot of pressure. I was like, ‘You know what? You’ve been doing really well this week. Just make another good putt.’ That’s what I did.”
Feng entered the final round in a four-way tie for the lead alongside Ariya, South Korea’s Park Sung-hyun and American Tiffany Joh.
Park, who reclaimed the world’s top ranking with a win last week in Arkansas, carded a 69 to finish in a tie for sixth on 23-under, while Joh (67) tied with Amy Yang (65) for third at 25-under. Kim Hyo-joo (64) finished fifth at 24-under.
Chan’s finish earned her US$20,200 in prize money, a figure that bumped her into the top 100 in the Race to CME Globe standings. The race is a lucrative end-of-season event, which sees the top 70 players compete for a share of a US$2.5 million prize pot.
Chan’s world ranking is 273 after she leapt 79 in the standings following her performance at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in June. Her Thornberry Creek showing should see her improve further when the rankings are updated on Monday.
Additional reporting by Reuters
