World No.6 Shanshan Feng has her eyes on the Ladies European Tour’s Order of Merit title, which she currently leads by €79,296 ahead of Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larsen, heading into the Sanya Ladies Open, the penultimate counting tournament on the 2015 LET schedule.
Feng is making her first appearance in the event, being played for the sixth consecutive year at Yalong Bay Golf Club in Hainan, China, from 6-8 November.
“It would be pretty exciting if I could win the Order of Merit this year on Ladies European Tour which will be the first Order of Merit title in my golfing career,” said the 26-year-old from Guangzhou. “However, I won’t give myself too much pressure on this. I will still try to play my best game in the following events and focus on every shot.”
Mainland China’s first Major championship winner, Feng has played in four Ladies European Tour events so far in 2015 and won the Buick Championship in Shanghai in March. She was third at the Evian Championship in France, 21st at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Australian Open and 24th at the Ricoh Women’s British Open. In addition to playing in China this week she will also defend at the season-ending Omega Dubai Ladies Masters in December.
“It’s been a good season. I have one win on LET, several top threes on the LPGA, and for more than half of the events played so far I finished top 10. You know for the past few years, I always played better in the second half season so I still have several events on my schedule, I will try to see if I can have the luck in the rest of this year,” she said.
Feng, who has four titles on the LET and four on the LPGA, has won three of those titles in China. In addition to this year’s Buick Championship, she won the World Ladies Championship at Mission Hills Resort Haikou in 2012 and also triumphed at the 2013 Reignwood LPGA Classic.
“It’s always good to play events back home with Chinese fans supporting you and they are just like families and friends. You feel more welcomed and motivated. Meanwhile, to be honest there will be some pressure, but I will try to stay calm and give my best performance,” she said.
Tropical Hainan Island is known as the ‘Hawaii of China’ and Yalong Bay in Sanya, with its palm trees and golden beaches, is known as one of the most beautiful golfing destinations in the country, if not the world.
“Hainan is a very welcoming place and playing the event here is like taking a vacation. The scenery is breathtaking and the lifestyle is very relaxing. The only thing you need to do during competition is not get distracted,” Feng said.
Broch Larsen Ready to Challenge Feng
Current Ladies European Tour No.2 Nicole Broch Larsen from Denmark will be keeping a close eye on Feng as she seeks to make up ground in the race for the 2015 Order of Merit.
The pair will play together for the first two rounds, starting at 7.45am on Friday alongside Thailand’s Patcharajutar Kongkraphan.
Broch Larsen is having a sensational second season on the LET. After coming close to claiming her maiden LET victory at the Tisport Golf Masters in Pilsen, Czech Republic, where she finished second, the 22-year-old from Hillerød came back strongly three weeks later, leading from start to finish at Vasatorps Golf Club in Sweden to claim her first LET title at the Helsingborg Open. She has recorded four top 10s and a win so far this season.
Like Feng, she is playing in the Sanya Ladies Open for the first time and knows that she needs two excellent weeks in China and Dubai to overcome the €79,296 difference on the Order of Merit.
“I’m ready to try and give it my best but I’ll just take this as one tournament as Dubai as another,” she said. “Of course I’m thinking about the Order of Merit and it would be awesome to win it, but Shanshan is 79,000 in front of me, so it has to be two good weeks.”
Broch Larsen is leading the current crop of talented players on the Ladies European Tour and rooming with rookie Emily Kristine Pedersen this week, who won the last LET event two weeks ago, the Hero Women’s Indian Open. She explained that qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games is helping to drive the Danes on to success.
“There are only two spots and we are four players on the Ladies European Tour and Line Vedel on the LPGA, but she has been injured this year. If she comes back, she’s on the LPGA next year so she’ll be a good competitor as well. Everybody is in the mix and wants to go. I think it will be decided in July next year and nothing is decided until then.
“I’m sure we inspire and motivate each other. Of course everyone wants to be the best Dane and I think that’s helped us to climb the leader board even if it’s not the best game we are playing. It’s been a good year for the Danish girls and it’s nice to have Nanna (Koerstz Madsen) and Malene (Jorgensen) and Emily (Kristine Pedersen) playing well as well.
Pedersen Leads Madsen in Rookie Race
Emily Kristine Pedersen starts the Sanya Ladies Open with a €31,204.12 lead over compatriot Nanna Koerstz Madsen in the race for the 2015 Ladies European Tour Rookie of the Year award.
The winner’s cheque at the Sanya Ladies Open is worth €45,000 while second is worth €30,450. Third ranked Ssu-Chia Cheng from Chinese Taipei, the winner of last year’s Xiamen Open, also has a chance with €89,321.18 less than Pedersen. However fourth ranked rookie Georgia Hall from England is now slightly too far behind to catch Pedersen, even if she won the final two counting events in Sanya and Dubai.
Both Pedersen and Koerstz Madsen come from Smoerum Golf Club in Denmark and are extremely closely matched at seventh and ninth on the order of merit respectively. They are also both playing in the Sanya Ladies Open at Yalong Bay Golf Club for the first time.
Pedersen said: “I think this golf course is very good, it’s tricky without the wind and the greens are much smaller than India so it’s a new challenge and a great place to be. I’ll do my best every time and this is just another week. Of course my target is to be at the top again. I caught up 50,000 on Nanna in India, so if she wins, or Ssu-Chia wins, there are two very good players I’m up against and if they play well and I don’t then they could overtake me.”
Lin Ready to Defend
China’s Xi Yu Lin is set to defend her maiden Ladies European Tour title in the Sanya Ladies Open at Yalong Bay Golf Club.
The 19-year-old from Guangzhou gave a dominant performance in hot and windy conditions 12 months ago to earn a commanding five stroke victory and has an excellent record in the tournament: she finished ninth in the inaugural event as a 14-year-old amateur and has never finished outside the top-10.
She arrives in fantastic form, coming off a tie for fifth at the Blue Bay LPGA, her best finish in two years on the LPGA Tour. Prior to that, she tied for sixth at the Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship, shared 28th at the KEM HanaBank Championship and tied for seventh in Malaysia.
“This is my fifth week in a row but I feel pretty fresh because I had two days off,” said Lin. “Throughout the Asian swing my game has been pretty good. Last week I played well but I also found some problems with my putting but I tried to fix it the last two days so I’m feeling pretty confident. It’s close to my home, so that’s one of the reasons I feel comfortable, but in Evian I already felt pretty good, because it was my first time making the cut there. My game was getting much better and after that I worked with my coach for a couple of days and fixed my short game, so everything is going well.”
Lin, a third year member of the LET, says that she will not set a target, although when asked to present the prize to the winner on Sunday, she replied that it would be difficult to hand herself the trophy.
“I’m trying not to think about being the defending champion because that really gives me pressure. I’ll just try to play the course how I played it the last couple of years and I’ll remind myself of the strategy on every hole and focus on every shot. So far this year I’m pretty satisfied with all my scoring and performances so I won’t give myself any more pressure, just enjoy it.”
