Jenny Shin recorded her first win on the LPGA Tour in 10 years on Sunday by securing a two-stroke victory at the Women’s Scottish Open in North Ayrshire.
Shin entered the final round with a five-stroke lead — and needed it. She overcame five bogeys to finish at 3-over-par 75 on Sunday at Dundonald Links and finished at 9-under 279 for the tournament.
The 33-year-old South Korean’s last win on the tour was her maiden one in 2016, at the now-defunct Volunteers of America Texas Shootout.
“Yeah, my first win didn’t really feel like a win at the time. I didn’t feel like I deserved it,” said Shin, who was still wet after being doused with water during the post-round celebration.
“But this one definitely feels a lot different. This one feels like I earned it. I worked hard for it. I started working with my putting coach four years ago, and he asked me what my goal was. I said I needed to win before I retire.
“So I had been wanting it so badly in the last four years. I’m very, very excited.”
The last LPGA Tour player to go 10 or more years between official victories was Vicki Fergon, who went 12 years and three months between wins at the 1984 S&H Golf Classic and the 1996 Michelob Light Heartland Classic.
Shin carded bogeys on hole Nos. 6-8 before stopping her skid with birdies on hole Nos. 10 and 12. She limped down the home stretch with bogeys on Nos. 16 and 18.
“I feel like I’ve done everything wrong, just wasn’t hitting it like I was the last three days and was hitting it into bunkers, bushes, and it wasn’t fun,” Shin said. “With the three bogeys in a row, I thought, ‘Oh, boy, I don’t know where this is going to go.’
“But yeah, I hung in there and so I’m quite proud of myself. Very happy.”
A Lim Kim recorded a 68 on Sunday to ascend into second place at 7-under, two strokes ahead of Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn (74).
Kim, of South Korea, answered a bogey on the second hole with a birdie on the third. She rattled off four straight birdies on Nos. 9-12.
Germany’s Esther Henseleit (73) finished in fourth place at 4-under for the tournament.
