Japan’s Haruka Kawasaki, despite carrying a dominant four-shot advantage into today’s final-round, needed a par on the final hole to earn the win at the US$1-million Foxconn TLPGA Players Championship.

Kawasaki closed the campaign with a 5-over 77 to finish on 2-under 286, beating Taiwan’s Hou Yu-Sang (侯羽桑), who finished with a Sunday 71, by one shot and taking home an US$180,000 top prize for her victory at the TLPGA Tour major.

“This is a big tournament, which made me a little nervous, especially in these windy conditions,” Kawasaki said, who kept a straight face throughout the round as she struggled to bring her best golf under pressure. She only birdied once through 14 holes but made six bogeys by then already. Hou, meanwhile, remained steady and even snatched the lead after scoring birdie on the 15th.

An important 10-footer that sank on the 15th green gave Kawasaki her second birdie of the day, putting her back on the top of the leaderboard alongside Hou.

They both went bogey-par on the following two holes, but later, a miscue on the final 18th tee took Hou another three shots to finally get onto the green of the par-5 hole, leaving herself a tricky, do-or-die 10-foot par putt. “The execution was not so bad, but yeah, it just circled the cup like that and unfortunately it did not drop,” said Hou, who then watched Kawasaki calmly make her winning putt.

“I was really surprised that I heard many local fans cheering for us. I do feel a love of the game that goes beyond nationality,” said Kawasaki. The Japanese will be trying to get ready for the new season back on her home tour.

Also from Japan, Rio Takeda displayed great control in the gusts, making 13 greens but only two birdies were converted. She ended up carding a 2-over 74 to finish in a tie for second with Hou.

Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹), who had been nursing a back strain, made a late charge with a brilliant 3-under back-nine with zero bogeys. However, a slow start saw her drop five shots on her outward nine already, and she had to settle for an equal fourth finish, shared by Japan’s Saiki Fujita and Korean Im Jin Hee at even-par 288.

First-round leader Im found her touch again on Sunday to finish with a low-round 2-under 70. “I wouldn’t say I’m happy with my score, but I left almost everything out there today. Except for the 10-footer I missed on the 14th, which was my only bogey, I think I did super well considering the conditions,” Im said.

Fujita also took lots of positives from this week, although she wrapped it up with just an even-par 72. “I love challenges, and the layout and conditions here at the Orient Club provided plenty of them. I learned a lot from the Taiwanese players as well, like how they coped with the windy weather with their low strokes,” the Japanese said.

Teen sensation Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳) got off to a flying start; she scored the only eagle in the whole final round on the par-5 1st hole, but struggled to maintain success with her attacking approach. Wu finished with a 2-over 74, completing her week just outside of the top-10 at T12.

Serean Aoki of Japan used the right-to-left side wind to her advantage to record a hole-in-one on the second hole today. The Japanese player closed the round with a 1-under 71 and finished in the top-10 in a five-way tie for seventh.

Taiwan-based super brand Foxconn (Hon Hai Technology Group), one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers, is the title sponsor of this new TLPGA Tour event. On the prize ceremony, Foxconn further announced a NT$1.5 million development fund in support of the TLPGA Tour.