Tiffany Chan held her nerve to become the first female golfer from Hong Kong to win the China Amateur Open thanks to an accomplished performance in Nanhai yesterday. Chan, 18, who held a slender one-stroke lead overnight, closed with a 73 over the water-strewn course at Peach Garden Golf Club near Guangzhou to pip China's Yin Yuan Ru by a shot. Chan's victory comes less than two months after she stunned the field at the Yinli HKPGA Classic, a professional event in Dongguan, by outplaying a string of China LPGA Tour pros and easing to a comfortable win. Chan's international teammate, 17-year-old Isabella Leung, placed third, a further two shots back. "The hard work that Tiffany has put in the last six months is really paying off," said national coach Brad Schadewitz. Alex Jenkins
New Zealand's Michael Barltrop held off elder brother Rodney and Hong Kong's Joe Pethes to win the Hong Kong Seniors Open Amateur Championship by the narrowest of margins at Fanling yesterday. Barltrop, 56, fired a 73 in the final round to finish with a three-day total of 222 (nine over par) to claim his first international victory on his debut appearance in the golf event. Rodney Barltrop, long considered the finest senior amateur in New Zealand history, finished alongside Pethes in a share of second, a shot back. "He's had the wood over me for a long time now so to get one over him was very nice," said Barltrop, who last played in Hong Kong in 1984 when he was part of the New Zealand Eisenhower Cup side. Pethes carded a best-of-the-day 72. Alex Jenkins