The idea that Taiwan’s Wei-Ling Hsu would win her first LPGA Tour title began to take shape as the final group, including Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn and 2021 Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions winner Jessica Korda, neared the 15th hole where Jutanugarn gave up two strokes in the fairway bunker to finish with a double bogey. On the same hole, Hsu made eagle, giving her a three-stroke advantage over the rest of the field heading into the final stretch. Korda and Australian Sarah Kemp maintained their cool as they, in addition to Jutanugarn, shared second place.
Hsu, who led the group after the first and co-led after the third, had plenty of reasons to win. Not only would it be her first career victory, but she’d be able to award Taiwan their first victory since five-time major winner on the LPGA Tour, Yani Tseng, won the 2012 Kia Classic.
“I don't know like what this win means for [Taiwan], but I really hope that I can give them some positive thought and a good energy to believe something,” said Hsu who reported on the COVID-19 situation in her native country. “You can always believe something and it will actually happen. I know people are against to virus right now, sports are shutdown, but there is something that the player or the people or the Taiwanese playing a different sport out, different country, they can still cheer for.”
A better performance indeed as Hsu shot -3 under for a tournament total of -13 under after carding 20 birdies and one eagle throughout the week.
“I definitely never expected this. Like I said earlier this week, I was so tired. I didn't expect much. And definitely when I finished first round solo lead, I definitely thought about that, but the second round just knock me down a little bit because I had a 1-over par,” said Hsu.
“I think this is the happiest thing ever, how my caddie cried and somehow I just cried so hard the last hole. But I feel happy and just happy,” Hsu said of how she felt after her historic win.
Barely missing her second win on the LPGA Tour was Jutanugarn who was still proud of her fight the past four days.
“I mean, it's still a good week. I like to play in the last group on Sunday—that’s always a good week. Of course, it's not finish I wanted to, but, you know, I still going to take a lot of good things from here,” said Jutanugarn.
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