Winds of change for Feng

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Winds of change for Feng
The windy conditions on Saturday did not deter fans from coming out in big numbers for the final day action.

Published: Sat 10 Dec 2016, 8:34 PM

Last updated: Sat 10 Dec 2016, 10:37 PM

It was a scenario that she is not accustomed to but Shanshan Feng showed on Saturday why she is made of champion stuff . On two-under and five strokes adrift of leader England's Felicity Johnson, going into the final day, Feng aced the Majlis Course of the Emirates Golf Course to defend her Omega Dubai Ladies Masters title.
On day filled with gusts of wind, the 27-year-old brought about the winds of change to make one of the most superlative rallies in the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters' history. Feng whipped up a staggering eight-under on the day to win the tournament with 10-under, two strokes ahead of England's Charley Hull. On the three previous occasions that she had won here, Feng had carried a five-stroke lead into the final day but here, she had her back to the wall. And what a way she responded to that.
"It's interesting," a relaxed Feng said about the situation she had found herself in. "Of course it was different, because I think in the first three times that I won, I was leading by five shots into the final days. This time, I was five behind. So I knew that I would have to play hard, try hard to try to catch the leaders. But I think the weather was great for me. It was windy. If there wasn't wind out there today (Saturday), I don't know what would happen. But happy that luck was on my side and I finally brought out my A Game," she added. Feng already had a premonition of what was to come as she had read the weather forecast to the T the day before. And the strong winds, one of her allies, played into her hands.
"I knew that it was going to be windy today (Saturday) and I knew that playing in the wind is one of my strongest parts. So, even though I was five behind, but you know, in the morning, I always thought that maybe I would still have a chance to win this week and I tried my best. 8-under was a pretty good score," she revealed.
"I think if there is strong wind, the quality of shots are pretty important and I think that's what I'm good at. My ball-striking most of the time is pretty solid and I can control the trajectory in the wind. I still leave myself birdie chances, even though it's really windy. But I know that it will actually bother a lot of the other girls, so maybe the other girls are not going to shoot like really low scores," added Feng.
Feng said that she was relieved to get her putting firing up well and added that she had made a few a few tweaks to her posture. "I'm just so happy that today I got my putting with me. I made small adjustments on my posture and I think I found like the most comfortable way to putt again. I was misjudging about the speed the first day, and I think I got better today (Saturday). "Yesterday (Friday), I got the speed better. Today (Saturday) I got the speed and the line better. So that's why the balls were dropping," she said. james@khaleejtimes.com

By James Jose

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