It was never in doubt, eh? Then again. In this game, no lead is big enough and when the nerves and the doubts start to creep in, a healthy advantage can swiftly become as brittle as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Jenny Shin experienced a variety of emotions on the closing day of the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open at blowy, boisterous Dundonald Links but, in the end, the Korean got to savour the winning feeling.
There was a shivering sensation to contend with too. “I’m cold, “ she chittered after being doused with a combination of water and champagne in the immediate aftermath of her terrific, wire-to-wire triumph.
A closing three-over 75 gave her a nine-under aggregate and a two-shot win over her compatriot, A Lim Kim.
That simple summing up, of course, doesn’t tell the true story of a topsy turvy final day.
Leading by five heading into the closing 18-holes, Shin briefly extended that to a whopping eight.
With the kind of comfortable cushion you’d get in a Bedouin tent, some of us were thinking Shin might top the mighty 10-shot success that Catriona Matthew enjoyed in the event back in 2011.
But what were we saying about big leads again? Shin had dropped just three shots in 54-holes but a run of successive bogeys at six, seven and eight changed the complexion of the leaderboard as the chasing pack began to close in.
Her advantage was just two when she hovered over a knee-knocking seven-footer for par on the ninth. Shin desperately needed to steady the ship.
“If I missed that it would have been four bogeys in a row and I don’t think I could’ve turned the ship around if it didn’t go in,” said the 33-year-old as she underlined the importance of that moment.
Having stopped the bleeding with that par putt, Shin also admitted that the presence of an official, who had put the final group on the clock, actually aided her stuttering assault.
“We were getting timed for a while, and that helped me quite a bit because I was very impatient the entire day,” she added. “I just wanted to get it over with. The pace was just not moving. So, when we got the warning, I was like, ‘ok, go, go, go’, and that helped me a lot.”
The valiant Kim gave it a good go in the exacting conditions and reeled off four birdies in a row around the turn while Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukan recovered from a dicey start to keep herself clinging to Shin’s coattails.
The frontrunner rediscovered the poise and purpose that had taken her into such a position of authority, though, and a couple birdies of her own at the 10th and the 12th helped to stave off any menacing advances from behind.
With Kim in the clubhouse on seven-under after a 68, Shin arrived on the 18th tee with a three-shot advantage.
There was a bit of oohing and ahhing when her drive came to rest near a bush, but Shin chopped it back on to the fairway and got herself safely onto the green. She could even afford the luxury of a bogey to win it.
The celebrations could begin. Shin’s one and only LPGA Tour triumph had arrived some 10 years ago. Or 3738 days if you’re really counting.
“My first win didn't really feel like a win at the time,” she admitted. “I didn't feel like I deserved it.
“Where I was in my life personally, I didn’t really want to golf. I was having a very difficult time being on tour. That win came out of nowhere. I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I was just playing golf.
“But this one, I felt in control. I had purpose and intent on every shot. I knew what I was doing. This win feels like I earned it, I worked hard for it.
“The Covid (shutdown) really turned around my entire life. Being jobless for six months really gave me an idea of what it's like to not golf professionally. And it sucked. I found a spark again.”
With Kim second, Anannarukan’s 74 left her in third on five-under. Nelly Korda, the world No 1, finished with a 69, her best of the week, for a two-over total with Lottie Woad, the defending champion, back on seven-over.
Hannah Darling, who made just her third cut of a testing rookie year, finished down on 20-over after a ruinous back-nine in a 79.
“I expected more of myself,” said Darling, who won the Jock MacVicar memorial award as the leading Scot. “It’s a mix of emotions. Lots of good stuff but lots to work on.”
As for Shin? “I can’t wait to do this again,” she said of her eagerness to stay in the winning habit.
How about knocking off this week’s AIG Women’s Open at Lytham? “That would be legendary,” she smiled.
