Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake
BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- China's Yang Hongmei held off challenges from compatriots Yang Taoli and Shen Yanhua to win the 50,000 U.S. dollars Orient Masters Beijing on Friday after closing with an even-par 72 for a three-shot victory.
The 32-year-old Sichuan native shot a 54-hole aggregate score of three-under 213 at the Orient Pearl Country Club for a $7,500 pay day and her fourth career victory on the Orient Masters Tour.
Fellow Sichuan native Yang Taoli shot a two-under 70 to finish at even par and her fifth runner-up or equal runner-up finish on the Orient Masters Tour over the past two years. Shen was a shot further back after a 74.
First round co-leader Shang Linyan (75) was alone in fourth place, while Thailand's Nontaya Srisawang (74) was the top overseas player in the field, tied for equal fifth with Li Juan (74), seven shots off the pace.
Starting the day with a two shot lead, Yang Hongmei quickly found herself tied with playing partner Shen who had birdied the first two holes.
As Shen would fall out of contention after bogeys on the sixth and the ninth, Yang, who had only dropped one stroke in her round, continued to play par golf until a birdie on 16 put her at three-under.
Playing two groups ahead, Yang Taoli, who had made the turn at 34, reeled off three consecutive birdies starting from the 14th to tie Yang Hongmei. Her share of the lead was short lived as Yang Taoli closed with bogeys on the final two holes.
"After two holes I was tied with Shen. I thought there were 16 holes left and in 16 holes anything can happen. So I didn't feel the pressure. I knew that I couldn't give up until the last two holes," said Yang Hongmei, winner of the Orient Masters Wenzhou last year.
"I think the key to the victory was my strategy to shoot for four on the long holes and be aggressive on the short holes. In fact, I didn't know Yang Taoli had caught me after 16 holes so my strategy is the same. I didn't see the leaderboard. I hope to defend my Wenzhou title next week and make it two in a row. This is my first experience at this (in going for consecutive wins). I will try."
The 32-year-old Yang dedicated her victory to the people in Sichuan, the southwestern province that was devastated by an earthquake on May 12 that has killed nearly 70,000 to date.
"Certainly my victory is a good thing for Sichuan. I hope my fellow people will get out of trouble. Sichuan people are diligent people. You can see in myself and Yang Taoli such character. Yang Taoli won last week (at the World Wind Cup Pro-Am Championship in Beijing) and I won this week. I think this is the best gift to Sichuan. I hope my fellow people can rebuild our beautiful province as soon as possible."
Yang Taoli said she now had five runner-ups on the Orient Masters Tour and perhaps this was "some kind of destiny."
"I didn't see the leader board (after the 16th hole) so I don't know what happened. After this event I just look back and feel disappointment because the last two holes I bogeyed. After the 16th I was two under and if I could have held on, maybe I could have won."
The top 30 professionals and ties in this 70 player, no-cut field earned prize money.
The Orient Masters is a China Golf Association-sanctioned tour. The five-year-old tour has five events in 2008, culminating in the third Orient China Ladies Open in Xiamen, Fujian Province, on December 12-15.
Next week, the tour travels to Zhejiang Province for the US $50,000 Orient Masters Wenzhou at the spectacular mountain-top Wenzhou Orient Yangyi Country Club, June 11-13.
Orient Pearl Country Club is a par-72, 6,425 layout designed by T.K. Pen in Beijing's northeast Shunyi District.
