Ice-cool Kang claims first victory

IF Soo-Yun Kang was feeling the pressure of playing with the lead, she sure didn’t show it.

The unflappable Kang carded a three-under-par 69 on Sunday and registered her first career LPGA Tour win, a relatively easy four-shot victory in the £1.4 million Safeway Classic in Portland.

A 29-year-old native of Korea, Kang became the ninth first-time winner on tour this year and collected £210,000. She joined the LPGA in 2001 after winning eight times on the Korean LPGA Tour.

“I waited so long for the past three years,” said Kang, whose previous career-best finish was a tie for second at the 2003 Takefuji Classic. “I guess I was in a slump for three years and working very hard on it. And I didn’t give up.”

Kang began the day with a three-shot lead and familiar playing partners - compatriots Jeong Jang, who won the British Open in her last start, and Gloria Park, who was in search of her third career win.

Neither Jang nor Park ever had any daylight as Kang birdied four of the first seven holes - including a 60-foot bomb on the par-three second - to widen her lead to four strokes. She led by two shots thereafter as she avoided any major mistakes.

“I have been playing ever since I was young and I played a lot of tournaments, pro tournaments, about five years before I came to the United States,” said Kang, the leading money winner on the KLPGA Tour in 2001 and 2002. “So it just came to me.”

“I wish my parents were here,” she said. “They were following me around for a lot of years, but they weren’t here when I finally won.”

Kang became the fifth Korean to notch her maiden win this year and led a top-four finish by her compatriots. Jang carded a 70 for 11-under 205, one stroke better than Park, who finished with a 71. Joo Mi Kim was fourth with 208.