24 year old Ssu-Chia Cheng held steady with plenty of challengers on the leaderboard and against a howling wind at the Sweetgrass Golf Club in Harris, Michigan to capture the 11th annual Island Resort Championship on the Epson Tour on Sunday.
Ssu-Chia Chen rolls in one last birdie at Sweetgrass
With a steady 20 mile per hour wind, gusting above 30 most of the afternoon, the second round leader just kept grinding for her second career win. Cheng opened the tourney with a -4, 68 and then the native of Taipei, Chinese Taipei charged to the lead with an 8 under par 64 on Saturday, one shot better than Samantha Wagner of Windemere, Florida. Wagner never found her game in the final round shooting 4 over 76 to fall off the pace and finish at -7. Several other golfers were able to close the gap as second place finisher Jiwon Jeon of Korea reached -12 on the back nine. When Chen bogeyed the 13th, her lead was down to two shots. That’s when she cut through the wind with birdies on the island hole, par 3 15th, another on 16 and finished with a birdie four on 18 to reach a tournament record tying 17 under par and a comfortable six shot victory. Chen pocketed $31,875.00 for the win, soaring her up the money list from 92, all the way to number 12. The top 10 finishers at the end of the Epson season earn cards to the LPGA tour.
Jeon finished at -11 for second place. Four players tied for third at -10 including Haylee Rae Harford of Leavittsburgh, Ohio who eagled number 9 on her way to a final round 66. Also tied for third were Michaela Finn of Brastad, Sweden and Emilee Hoffman of Folsom, California and Clariss Guce of Artesia, California.
Shortly after her 6 foot birdie on the final hole rolled in, Chen’s Asian friends on the tour gave her a victory dousing.
A wet party on 18 for the champ.
It wouldn’t take long for the winds of Sweetgrass to dry off the new champion.
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