Sunday, March 24, 2013

T Point Ladies: Yuki Ichinose Holds Off the Last Two Winners on JLPGA Tour

Daikin Orchid Ladies winner Rikako Morita made a move early in the final round of the T Point Ladies, but neither her 3 birdies on the front nor last week's winner Mi-Jeong Jeon's 4 birdies in her 1st 11 holes were enough to rattle 2nd-round leader Yuki Ichinose.  When the 24-year-old matched their birdies on the par-5 13th for her 3rd birdie of the day, she served notice that they would have to take the title away from her.  5 pars by Ichinose later, it was apparent that neither of this year's winners would be able to deny the 6th-year pro her 1st career JLPGA victory.

Ichinose beat Morita by 1, Jeon by 2, and Teresa Lu, Ritsuko Ryu, Yukari Baba, Na-Ri Lee, and Erika Kikuchi by 4.  Sakura Yokomine ended up at -7, 7 shots behind Ichinose, while even a final-round 67 by Sun-Ju Ahn left her 9 off the pace.

After 3 events, here's what the top of the JLPGA money list looks like:

1. Rikako Morita ¥26.16M
2. Mi-Jeong Jeon ¥20.01M
3. Yuki Ichinose ¥13.56M
4. Sakura Yokomine ¥9.23M
5. Young Kim ¥7.90M
6. Erika Kikuchi ¥7.67M
7. Ritsuko Ryu ¥7.09M
8. Onnarin Sattayabanphot ¥5.43M
9. Megumi Kido ¥4.72M
10. Yun-Jye Wei ¥4.59M

A lot of those up-and-coming Japanese women golfers I was writing about in years past have apparently up and came!  Let's see if they can keep it going at the AXA Ladies!

[Update 1 (5:36 pm):  Here's bangkokbobby's story.]

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