EIGHTEEN year old Su Oh won the 2015 RACV Ladies Masters at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast on Sunday in just her second event as a professional.
The Victorian teenager and former world No.1 amateur fired rounds of
69, 75, 72 and 69 to finish at seven-under-par and three clear of joint runners-up Katherine Kirk (69), the 2009 champion, and English duo Florentyna Parker (69) and Charley Hull (73).
As Kirk and Parker walked to the clubhouse sharing the lead at four under, Oh made her winning move. The teenager reeled off four straight birdies at the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th to finish in fine style.
Outright fifth was Annie Choi, while six players finished at two-under-par including South African Lee-Anne Pace and leading amateur Rebecca Kay.
Oh was the recipient of some words of encouragement from her idol Karrie Webb who texted her messages of support before the final round.
“I spoke to Karrie. I asked her: ‘what do I need to do, you’ve won this eight times’,” she smiled.
Oh burst into tears of joy on the 18th green after tapping in her winning birdie putt, hugging her caddie, father SG.
“I got pretty emotional, didn’t I? That was a bit weird,” said the exuberant teenager.
Co-runner up and 2009 winner Katherine Kirk was full of praise for Oh and the way in which she claimed her first victory after having secured an invite from tournament director Bob Tuohy.
“She looked pretty composed out there, she’s got the goods,” declared Kirk.
Oh, who the world’s number one ranked amateur in 2013, made her professional debut in last week’s Victorian Open, finishing second.
The Ladies Masters has a tradition of producing world class players since 1990 with Webb, Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam and Mexico’s Lorena Ochoa all going on to be ranked No.1 in the world.
Oh will be looking to go back-to-back at this week’s ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.
“I would love to, because then I would get my LPGA card too. It would be my dream two weeks, but I mean one win is hard, but two wins, yeah maybe we’ll see.”
In Melbourne Oh will face off against fellow young hotshot Minjee Lee, with the pair touted as promising big things for the future of Australian women’s golf.
Ladies Masters Leaderboard