Tseng unleashes flock of birdies to land Australian Open title

TAIWAN'S Yani Tseng won the Women's Australian Open by three strokes yesterday, shooting five birdies on the back nine for a seven-under-par 66 to pull away from former champions Karrie Webb and Laura Davies.

Tseng, the 2008 LPGA Championship winner, had a 72-hole total of nine-under 283 on the par-73 Commonwealth Golf Club in Melbourne. She birdied the final two holes to all but end any challenge from Webb and Davies in the final group behind her. Defending champion Davies shot 71, including a birdie on 18, to finish second.

Four-time Open winner and third-round leader Webb missed three putts for birdies inside four feet on the back nine and was third after a 74 and was four behind Tseng.

Australian Katherine Hull, who shot 72, finished tied for fourth with second-round leader Giulia Sergas of Italy (74), five off Tseng.

"It was very exciting, my whole body is still shaking," Tseng said before the trophy presentations. "My heart is still at over 200 beats a minute."

"I got off to a really great start and was feeling really good," Webb said. "I played a couple of scrappy holes on six and seven and really lost a lot of momentum. I just didn't hit it as good after that for some reason. I didn't trust myself as much as I would have liked and then the putts just weren't going in. Seven under is an incredible score around here."