By Jugjet Singhjugjet@nst.com.my
JIMIN Kang, 30, of South Korea engraved her name on the inaugural Sime Darby Malaysia LPGA pewter trophy when she fired a final round of 65 to end nine under 204 at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.
She was in the shadows after a first round of 70 followed by a 69, but the final put made her richer by US270,000.
The second spot and US174,239 was claimed by Juli Inkster of the United states with an eight-under 205.
Day one joint-leader Mika Miyazato and overnight leader Maria Hjorth shared the third spot and each received US112,089.
Jimin, who turned pro in 2003 and won her maiden LPGA title in 2005, was on cloud nine after a five-hear hiatus.
"Oh! my God!, I hope they parcel the trophy to me because it is so heavy and I don't have any more space in my luggage for it," was her first comment.
After settling down a little, she said she never felt that she was in the running until some of the volunteers alerted her.
"I was just going through the motions and never looked at the leaderboard until some of the volunteers told me that I am in the running for the title.
"I looked up and saw that they were right, and suddenly I had goosebumps and difficulty in breathing.
"My caddy told me to take it easy and just breathe deeply and it helped a little. And then in the final hole, I saw that I could go into a sudden-death with Juli if I birdied for a nine under. I did just that, and Juli bogeyed the last hole and here I am at the podium," said Jimin.
Juli was nine-under until the final hole, but: "I just edged my shot and I missed it to the right. It was a three quarter shot and I just left it out there. But otherwise I played well all day but Jimin birdied the last hole, and it slipped out of my fingers."
