It was not until the last hole the winner of 2013 Technology Cup at the Hsin Chu Golf Country Club was decided. To local fans’ delight, 3 Taiwanese players got to the 18th tee with the same score, but a ten-foot birdie from Shih Huei-Ju (石惠如) on the par-5 18th was all she needed to hold off her competitors. This is Shih’s second Tour victory and she takes home a NT$600,000 prize check.

Shih started the day with a 2-shot deficit to Hsu Wei-Ling (徐薇淩) but was slowly catching up with the inconsistent performance of her compatriot. Hsu needed 33 putts in her final round, including a missed par putt on 18th, which had her drop to a tie for no.3 with Chen Szu-Han (陳思涵) to Shih and Hsieh Yu Ling (謝瑀玲). Hsieh hit a low-round-of-the-day 71 and surged on the scoreboard with a runner-up finish.

The Hsinchu native Tseng Hsiu-Feng (曾秀鳳) was trailing by just one shot after 6 holes but failed to keep her composure and hit a 5-over on the last 12 to a solo tenth finish.

The victory came as the second for Shih on the TLPGA Tour. The previous one was over a year ago at the TLPGA&Royal Open last January.

“Today I was rather tensed up from the first hole,” Shih recalled, who was the leader after the first round. “But I looked at the leaderboard and thought at least we (Taiwanese players) are keeping the title for home fans, and I felt everything became easier.”

“I was kind of surprised with that final birdie to be honest. I was simply trying to make it as close to the hole as possible and it rolled in.” said Shih with excitement.

Shih said the recent work on her distance also contributed to this long anticipated triumph. She described her win as “breaking out of shell” as she had to fight against an elbow injury over the past year.