Katherine Hull superseded her U.S. LPGA victory last year with her very first major win on home soil by hitting the Australian Ladies Masters on Sunday held in Gold Coast, Australia.
Hull birdied the first hole and set off to shoot a 4-under 68 to gain a five-stroke victory at Royal Pines.
The 26-year-old Australian player completed with a four-round total of 16-under 272, starting the day off with a three-stroke lead. Meanwhile, Australian Tamie Durdin (70) and South Korea’s Ryu Soyeon (67) tied up for second place.
Concurrently, a four-way tie was up for the fourth at 10-under 278, six shots off Hull: Tseng Ya-ni of Taiwan (66), last week’s New Zealand Open winner Gwladys Nocera of France (67), Sarah Kemp of Australia (68) and American Mollie Frankhauser (70).
This win will advance Hull’s world ranking into the top 20. In retrospect, she placed second during last month’s New South Wales Open and in a tie second in the New Zealand Open last weekend. She intends to play in the Women’s Australian Open next week held at the Metropolitan in Melbourne.
Durdin, however, placed a close second – scoring behind for only two shots of Hull as she birdied the sixth hole. Still, Hull birdied the 12, 13, and 14 to drag away from the field previous to coming for the 18th.
Meanwhile, six-time Masters Champion Karrie Webb was able to shoot a 73 to tie for 30th at 3 under. Webb is supposed to play well at the Women’s Australian Open next week. She will be aiming for her sixth national title. Webb has player the Masters 18 times so far in which she finished in the top10 on 16 occasions.