BEIJING: Ni Zixin became the youngest winner in China LPGA Tour on Saturday when the 14-year-old amateur won the Golf Liquor Challenge in Shandong Province by two strokes.
The previous record was set by Zhang Yahui who won the CTBC Zhuhai Challenge last October at the age of 15.
Ni closed with an even-par round of 71 over the Garden Course at the CGA Nanshan International Training Center to complete a wire-to-wire victory with score of one-under 212. Sun Jiaze closed with a bogey-free 68 to finish runner-up. Zhang finished third with four strokes behind Ni.
“My goal was to become the youngest winner entering this week and to break Zhang Yahui’s record. I am happy that I made it today,” said Ni.
“I felt tired over the last few holes and made a couple of mistakes from the tees. But the rest was pretty good. I made some good putts,” she added.
Sun, who posted her best result since turning pro last year, said, “I am happy with this unexpected runner-up. I just kept patient since the very beginning because I knew it’s a tough course.”
Playing in the last group with Ni, Zhang holed out for an eagle two from 140 yard away on the 387-yard 16th hole to secure the third place. Her erratic round also included five bogeys and a lone birdie.
“This result is unsatisfactory. I changed my swing going into the event which led to an inconsistent game for three rounds,” said Zhang, currently 65th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
