2 years ago
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Gemma Dryburgh takes home $300,000 (£263,678) for her win in Japan| -20 G Dryburgh (Sco); -16 K Nagai (Jpn); -15 L Grant (Swe); -13 Y Nishimura (Jpn); -12 M Ueda (Jpn), M Yamashita (Jpn), A Furue (Jpn); -11 M Katsu (Jpn), Y Yoshida (Jpn) |
| Selected others: -10 A Thitikul (Tha); -4 M Lee (Aus) -3 S Meadow (NI) |
| Full leaderboard |
Gemma Dryburgh became the first Scottish golfer to win on the LPGA Tour since 2011 with a four-stroke win at the Japan Classic.
Dryburgh, ranked 199th in the world, carded a final round 65 to finish on 20 under par, beating Japan's Kana Nagai into second place.
It marks a first title on the Tour for the 29-year-old, who had started the final day one shot behind overnight leader Momoka Ueda.
"It is overwhelming," said Dryburgh.
"It has been a dream for a long time and a lot of hard work has gone into this and it means so much as it is a life-changing win.
"I was surprisingly calm. When I'd dreamt of this moment, I thought I would be super nervous.
"I was nervous - I'm not going to lie - but I was incredibly calm, to be honest, and kind of focused on my breathing."
Dryburgh, the fourth Scot to win an LPGA Tour title and the first since Catriona Matthew at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational 11 years ago, started the final day's action with two birdies on the front nine.
But the "turning point" came with three on the par-four 11th hole, after which she went on to record five birdies in eight holes to take top spot on the leaderboard.
"I had a really good shot there yesterday and hit the same club today, so I was confident I could do it again," Dryburgh added.
"But yeah, had an incredible shot there and it was a nice birdie on that one."
Ueda later finished tied for fifth after carding three bogeys and a double-bogey in a round of 74, while new world number one Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand was tied for 10th.
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