BEIJING, Feb. 12 -- After playing near-flawless golf
for two days, even a stumble at the finish couldn't prevent Karrie Webb from
winning her sixth Australian Ladies Masters title yesterday.
Webb had a comfortable four-stroke lead through much
of the back nine at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast before bogeying the 17th and
18th holes for a 4-under 68 and a two-stroke victory over South Korea's Shin
Ji-yai.
Webb, who came from seven strokes behind on Saturday
with a course-record, 10-under 62 to share the third-round lead with fellow
Australian Michelle Ellis, again made clutch putts to follow up last week's
six-stroke Australian Open win at Royal Sydney.
With two victories in two starts in Australia, Webb
begins play on the LPGA Tour at the SBS Open on Turtle Bay, Hawaii, beginning
Thursday.
"It's obviously been a great start to the year," said
Webb. "I take a lot of positives, a lot of confidence into the next two weeks in
Hawaii."
Webb said her strong start yesterday - a 6-under 31
on the front nine, including an eagle on the ninth - was the key to her victory.
"Yesterday's round put me in good stead to win and I
got off to a flyer today," said Webb, who had a four-round total of 19-under
269.
Shin closed with a 69 and was followed another stroke
back by Cristie Kerr of the United States, who had a 68. Kerr had all four
rounds in the 60s and did not make a bogey in 72 holes this week.
"That's a first for me," Kerr said of her bogey-free
performance.
Ahn Sun-ju of South Korea, who led after each of the
first two rounds, birdied the last for a 70 and finished fourth. Chinese
Taipei's Tseng Ya-ni, a former amateur playing in only her second professional
tournament, had a 66 to finish fifth.
Ellis finished tied for sixth after a 75.
In Kuala Lumpur, Sweden's Peter Hedblom shot a
four-under-par 68 yesterday to win the Malaysian Open by one stroke from
Frenchman Jean-Francois Lucquin.
Hedblom made six birdies against two bogeys for an
eight-under 280 at the Saujana Golf and Country Club to win the US$1.29 million
tournament, his first European Tour win since the Moroccan Open in 1996.
Lucquin fired six birdies for his final-round 67 and
a total of 281, one stoke ahead of England's Simon Dyson (70) and Ignacio
Garrido of Spain (69).
Overnight joint leader Marcus Higley of England had
three bogeys against a lone birdie for a 74 to finish three strokes off the pace
with countryman Gary Lockerbie.
Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland shot a 71 to finish
at even-par for the tournament, which is co-sanctioned by the European and Asian
Tours.
US Open winner Michael Campbell of New Zealand
withdrew from the tournament with a shoulder injury on Saturday after a horror
third round of six-over 78, including five bogeys and a double bogey that put
him at seven-over 223.
Asia's best finishers were Thai pair Chinarat
Phadungsil (70) and Prom Meesawat (73), who shared seventh place with Finn Miko
Ilonen (71) and Simon Yates of England (72) with a 284.
(Source: Shanghai Daily)
