YANGMEI, October 23, 2011 (AFP) - World number one Yani Tseng blew away the rest of the field to capture her seventh LPGA Tour victory of the season on Sunday at the inaugural Sunrise Taiwan Championship, thrilling her home fans.
The 22-year-old Tseng shot a final-round six-under-par 66 to finish at 16-under and record a five-stroke victory over Spain's Azahara Munoz and Amy Yang of South Korea at Sunrise Golf & Country Club in Yangmei.
Going into the final round Tseng held a two-stroke lead over Anna Nordqvist of Sweden.
The duo exchanged birdies on the second but Tseng's dominant play, which included six birdies and zero bogeys, propelled her to her 12th career LPGA title, in front of her proud watching grandmother.
"It's incredible," said an elated Tseng. "I wish this year would never end. I wish I could win more tournaments.
"I have two tournaments left, and then I will do my best and I'm really happy what I did this year, and so keep learning and get some more experience and try to make more history."
The Spaniard Munoz posted her second consecutive top-three performance, while Yang's runner-up finish was her second of the season.
Behind them was Morgan Pressel, who shot the round of the tournament with a seven-under-par 65 to finish just off the pace.
But the day was all about Tseng, who said her grandmother had insisted on coming to watch.
"My grandmother was on 18 hole. Yesterday my mum told me, 'grandma is going to go see you tomorrow'. I was like, 'no, no, no, there's too many people'," she said.
"I was very happy to see her because she never takes airplanes to go to the other countries, never in her life.
"So she always watches in front of the TV and now she can see real me play on the 18th hole, so I was really, really emotional and very happy."
Leading final-round scores from the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship on Sunday:
(par 72)
272 - Yani Tseng (TPE) 68-71-67-66
277 - Amy Yang (KOR) 72-68-70-67, Azahara Munoz (ESP) 71-66-72-68
279 - Morgan Pressel (USA) 69-75-70-65, Anna Nordqvist (SWE) 69-68-71-71 280 - Katie Futcher (USA) 70-70-71-69
281 - Park Hee-Young (KOR) 70-70-75-66
282 - Cristie Kerr (USA) 70-73-73-66
283 - Yoo Sun-Young (KOR) 71-71-71-70
284 - Han Hee-Won (KOR) 71-69-70-74
285 - Mika Miyazato (JPN) 70-71-74-70, Wendy Ward (USA) 71-71-73-70