Thailand’s Supamas Sangchan wins Hong Kong Ladies Open, with Tiffany Chan 13th
Olympian cards final round of one-under-par 71 to finish five shots off the pace at Hong Kong Golf Club on Sunday
Thailand’s Supamas Sangchan won the EFG Hong Kong Ladies Open by one shot on Sunday, as defending champion Tiffany Chan Tsz-ching claimed a 13th place finish on her first outing as a professional.
Supamas’ win at Hong Kong Golf Club, after a final round of one-under-par 71, denied Chan a fairy tale title defence after last year’s play-off success as an amateur.
But it will still go down as a successful first foray into the paid ranks for the 23-year-old Olympian, who now heads to Illinois for her first event on the second-tier Symetra Tour in the US at the Decatur-Forsyth Classic next week.
“I think I was a little bit nervous when I started in the morning because I knew I had to go low to get close to the leader, so I started with three over after four holes which is not what I expected,” said Chan, who carded a final round of two-under-par 70 to finish at five-under overall, five shots adrift of Supamas on the same total as she finished on last year before winning the title in a play-off.
“But I quickly adjusted and focused on one shot at a time, rather than thinking too far ahead. I calmed myself down, but I wasted too many shots on the front nine over these three days which caused the loss.
“But overall, I think I did pretty well handling all the pressure with all my friends, my high school friends, my family and my relatives, as they all came out and watched and I think the audience was bigger than last year, so it was a good experience for me.”
Thailand’s Suksukont Renuka (67) and Taiwan’s Hsieh Yu-ling (68) finished tied for second at nine-under-par.