Amy Yang safely two-putted the 36th green for par to win the New Zealand women's amateur championship final against fellow Australian-based Korean Misun Cho in Christchurch yesterday.
The decisive moment came at the 313m par-four 35th hole when Cho overcooked her three wood off the tee and found a creek.
It cost her a penalty and Cho then conceded Yang a sizeable birdie putt.
Yang, 16, then hit a booming drive down the last and put her wedge approach within 4.5m of the hole.
Cho, of the Gold Coast, found the green with her second shot from the rough before missing her birdie putt by the narrowest of margins.
Yang pushed her birdie putt almost 1m past the target but slotted the second to seal the match 1 up.
The final saw Yang card 11 birdies and finish five-under while Cho, 18, the top qualifier, was four-under.
Yang had won the first four holes with three birdies and a par, but Cho fought strongly and was back to square after 12. Yang won 14 for 1 up at the break.
Starting the second round, Yang increased her lead to 2 up after birdying the 19th, but successive birdies by Cho had the final square.
Yang went ahead again with a par at the 23rd only to three-putt the 24th green and lose the hole to par. A birdie at the 25th had Yang back in front and she was 2 up after 28 holes.
Cho hit the lead for the first time at the 30th, but Yang birdied four of the next five holes, which was to prove the winning break.
In the other finals yesterday, Emma Bennett won the plate by beating fellow Victorian Alison Whitaker at the 16th, North Harbour's Phillis Meti took the Waddell Rosebowl with a 1 up victory over Lucinda Shefford, of Templeton, and Kristin Farrell, of Titirangi, beat Emily Perry, of Lochiel, 5 and 4, to claim the Waddell Rosebowl flight.
- NZPA
