by Al Campbell
VANCOUVER, Aug. 28 (silubaba) -- Megan Khang was not to be denied at the CPKC Women's Open on Sunday, as the American golfer came from behind to win Canada's national championship, beating South Korean Ko Jin-young in a first-hole playoff.
With overnight leader Khang closing with a 74 and former world No. 1 Ko shooting 69, both players finished deadlocked on nine-under 279 at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club.
As Ko's tee shot on the first playoff hole went into the bush on the way to a double-bogey six, Khang's drive safely found the middle of the fairway. She then put her approach to the back of the green and two-putted for her first LPGA Tour victory, which was worth 375,000 U.S. dollars.
China's No. 1 Yin Ruoning carded a bogey-free round of six-under 66 to tie the Shaughnessy course record and finish third, two strokes back. South Korean Kim Sei-young (74) and Australian Hannah Green (69) shared the fourth, a shot further back.
China's No. 2 Lin Xiyu closed with 73 to finish on two-over. Other Chinese scores included Liu Ruixin (75), Liu Yu (78), Zhang Weiwei (72) and Yan Jing 74.
Khang went into the day with a three-shot lead but struggled early in carding three bogeys over the first 10 holes. She then picked up consecutive birdies starting from the 11th hole before dropping another shot at the 13th. After missing a six-foot putt for the par at the 162-yard 17th and dropping a shot behind Ko, Khang hit her approach at the last to four feet and made the putt to force the playoff.
"It seemed like a struggle out there for me. I've been hitting the ball so good this week and then a couple missed fairways, a couple of punch outs, couple of early bogeys, and you look at the leaderboard and you are wondering when you're going to get it going," said Khang, a 25-year-old Massachusetts native.
Ko, who started the day five shots off the lead, carded a round featuring four birdies and a lone bogey to get in the hunt for her third win of the LPGA Tour season.
"Well, I didn't expect I would play in the playoff because I was five shot behind Megan. But I know if I got lots of birdies it would be chance to win," said the Seoul native.
Yin, a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour season, started the day 10 shots off the lead and quickly went to work with a birdie on the 476-yard, par-five first. The Shanghai native then picked up another stroke at the fifth hole, before reeling off three consecutive birdies starting from the ninth hole. Her final birdie came on the 374-yard 16th hole.
"I hit 11 fairways today, which is double from yesterday. Thirteen greens, bogey-free. You never can complain with a bogey-free round," said the 20-year-old who credited her change of fortune to a text from her coach. ■
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