ORLANDO: Sweden’s Maria Hjorth fired a par-72 final round on Sunday to capture her first LPGA title since 2007, winning the season-ending Tour Championship by one stroke from South Korean Amy Yang. Hjorth’s fourth career LPGA crown was her first since the 2007 Navistar Classic and only her second since 1999.
The outcome secured the LPGA Player of the Year award for Taiwan’s Yani Tseng and year-end world number one status for South Korean Jiyai Shin, as rivals were unable to overhaul either over the last holes of the 2010 campaign. Tseng won three titles, two of them majors, and became the first Taiwan player to claim the top player award. Hjorth, whose best prior showing of the season was a share of third place at Malaysia, had wanted to prove she could win after having taken a break from the tour to start a family.
Hjorth finished 72 holes on five-under-par 283 with Yang, seeking a wire-to-wire win despite having never previously led after any LPGA round until this week, second on 284 after a final-round 74.
American Cristie Kerr and South Korean In-Kyung Kim shared third on 286 with American Laura Diaz and South Korean Na Yeon Choi a further stroke off the pace.
Choi edged Kerr for the Vare Trophy, awarded for the season’s low scoring average, after having clinched the year’s money list crown on Saturday, “I wanted to win but I think I did awesome,” Choi said. Tseng, who finished 21st on 293, took LPGA Player of the Year honours as neither Kerr nor Choi could move past her despite their top-six finishes.
Kerr was trying to become the first American to capture LPGA Player of the Year honours since Beth Daniel in 1994 but needed a victory to claim the award.
Shin, who was at risk of being knocked from the season-ending world number one ranking after missing a cut to 30 players for the final round, kept the spot when Choi, Kerr, Tseng and Norway’s Suzann Pettersen could not pass her. Yang, seeking her first title since winning the 2006 Australian Ladies Masters aged 16, took a four-over-par eight at the third hole while sharing the lead with Hjorth, finding the water to leave her playing partner three shots clear of the field.
Hjorth ends win drought while Tseng, Shin take awards
