Suzann Pettersen has held off a furious rally from Azahara Munoz to win her second consecutive Taiwan LPGA championship.
Pettersen’s three-under 69 on Sunday gave her a nine-under-par 279 for the tournament to seal victory over Munoz (70) by five shots.
Pettersen birdied the 13th, 14th and 18th holes to win going away after her bogey on the par-5 9th allowed Munoz to pull within one stroke on the final day of the competition.
Earlier, Munoz had registered birdies on the 4th, 7th and 8th, to continue her strong run of play from Saturday’s round, when her three-under 69 put her in competition for the first time.
She went on to birdie the 12th but bogeys on 13 and 16 allowed Pettersen to pull away.
Despite falling short, Munoz expressed satisfaction with her play.
“I was four-under through 12 holes, and I was really playing really well,” she said.
“I made two bogeys coming in but I hit two really good shots and one came up short and one came up long, just misjudged the wind a little bit but I played really well.”
By winning the $US2 million ($A2.08 million) Taiwan event, Pettersen puts herself in strong position to challenge South Korea’s Ingbee Park for the overall 2013 LPGA crown, with two tournaments remaining. Park did not compete in Taiwan.
Finishing third in the Taiwan tournament was Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall (70) who was another two shots behind Munoz.
A big disappointment for the Taiwan crowd was the inconsistent play of Taiwan’s Yani Tseng, the 2011 champion and former LPGA No.1.
Tseng’s poor play on Thursday and Friday effectively took her out of contention, and she finished 10-over for the tournament, 19 strokes off the pace.