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WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA | Always look out for the weary golfer. Wie-Ling Hsu arrived in Virginia having slept a total of 20 hours in five days. She can’t sleep on airplanes so the trip from the Honda Thailand LPGA to Los Angeles was exhausting. Then she picked up her mother and drove to Phoenix, Arizona, for a 36-hole U.S. Women’s Open qualifier. From there, she flew to Charlotte, North Carolina, and then drove to Virginia where, after a couple of 10-hour-a-night sleeps, the 26-year-old from Chinese Taipei shot 13-under-par 271 on the River Course at Kingsmill Resort for her first victory in seven seasons on the LPGA Tour.
And while the 72 holes seemed like a grind – “I am so tired,” Hsu said with a laugh – it really came down to a 30-minute stretch on Sunday around the par-5 15th hole.
Moriya Jutanugarn arrived there holding a two-shot lead and appeared to be on her way to making history. In 71 years only one pair of siblings, Jessica and Nelly Korda, have won multiple times on the LPGA Tour. Moriya has one win and her sister, Ariya, who won in Thailand in the last start before Kingsmill, has 11. The Jutanugarns want to join that elite club.
But Moriya’s drive on 15 found the fairway bunker, which meant she couldn’t reach the green in two. Then disaster struck as Jutanugarn thinned an iron that caught the lip and didn’t get out of the bunker. From there, she had to blast out, hit her third shot long and left and three-putted from 30 feet for double bogey.
Meanwhile, Hsu hit a good drive and ripped a 7-wood that got a good kick off the left bunker and trickled to 8 feet. She holed the putt for eagle and a four-shot swing. That proved to be the difference. Hsu made birdie on 16 and Jutanugarn rolled in a 20-footer for birdie on 17 but the event was decided on the par-5.
“I was really nervous when I hit that 7-wood shot,” Hsu said. “My heart was racing. I had to calm myself down. But it means so much to now be a winner on the LPGA Tour. After all this time, I finally did it.”
Steve Eubanks