South Korean rookie wins for third time in China

HAINAN ISLAND, China -- Sei Young Kim made a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th for a one-stroke victory Sunday in the Blue Bay LPGA.
The 22-year-old South Korean player won for the third time in her rookie season on the LPGA Tour, closing with a 2-under 70 at Jian Lake Blue Bay for a 2-under 286 total.
After high wind sent scores soaring the first three days on the difficult course, the players faced only a moderate breeze on a rainy afternoon along the South China Sea.
Third-ranked Stacy Lewis, fellow American Kim Kaufman and Taiwan's Candie Kung finished a stroke back. Kim holed her winning putt after playing partners Lewis and Kung missed birdie tries -- Lewis from 20 feet and Kung from 10.
Lewis finished with a 70 for her sixth runner-up finish of the season and the 21st of her career. She won the last of her 11 LPGA Tour titles in June 2014.
Kung shot a 71. Kaufman, playing a group ahead, had a 69 for the best round of the day.
Kim won playoffs this year in the Bahamas and Hawaii in events also played in strong wind on seaside layouts. The five-time Korea LPGA winner earned $300,000 to move up a spot to fourth on the money list with $1,727,436 and is projected to jump from 11th to eighth in the world.
Kim dropped into a four-way tie for the lead on the par-3 17th when she three-putted from about 120 feet on the massive beachside green. Kung hit to 2 1/2 feet and Lewis to 4 1/2 feet, but they missed their putts to the right.
Kim's best shot of the day came on the par-4 10th when she holed a 40-foot flop from the rough to save par after hitting her approach long and left into the water.
She pulled even with Lewis with a birdie on the par-4 13th. Kim's 3-wood drive took a big forward bounce off a cart path, leaving her a sand wedge approach that she hit to 6 feet. Lewis three-putted for bogey, missing a 5 1/2-footer.
Kim moved ahead on the par-5 14th when she made a 10-foot birdie putt and Lewis missed an 8-footer.
Kaufman had her best finish in her first two seasons on the tour. The 24-year-old former Texas Tech player from tiny Clark, South Dakota, birdied Nos. 9, 11, 14 and 15, then missed mid-range birdie tries on the final three holes.
Top-ranked Lydia Ko shot her second straight 70 to tie for eighth at 4 over. She had the best weekend total in the field after opening with rounds of 77 and 75.
Ko won the LPGA Taiwan by nine strokes last week to regain the No. 1 spot from Inbee Park. The 18-year-old New Zealander has a tour-high five victories.
ALL THE FINAL TOTALS

• Course: Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course
• Par: 72
• Yardage: 6,778

Pos	Name	1	2	3	4	Today	Thru	Total	Strokes
1	Sei-Young Kim	70	72	74	70	-2	F	-2	286
T2	Kim Kaufman	72	72	74	69	-3	F	-1	287
T2	Candie Kung	71	72	73	71	-1	F	-1	287
T2	Stacy Lewis	71	73	73	70	-2	F	-1	287
T5	Sandra Gal	73	73	74	71	-1	F	+3	291
T5	Xiyu Lin	67	77	75	72	E	F	+3	291
T5	Alena Sharp	74	70	74	73	+1	F	+3	291
T8	Ariya Jutanugarn	74	73	75	70	-2	F	+4	292
T8	Lydia Ko	77	75	70	70	-2	F	+4	292
T8	Ilhee Lee	72	75	74	71	-1	F	+4	292
T8	Jane Park	70	74	77	71	-1	F	+4	292
T8	Suzann Pettersen	74	69	75	74	+2	F	+4	292
13	Jennifer Song	75	73	74	71	-1	F	+5	293
T14	Pernilla Lindberg	77	72	75	70	-2	F	+6	294
T14	Michelle Wie	76	72	76	70	-2	F	+6	294
T14	Jenny Shin	70	78	75	71	-1	F	+6	294
T14	Shanshan Feng	73	75	74	72	E	F	+6	294
T14	Minjee Lee	74	70	76	74	+2	F	+6	294
T14	Ryann O'Toole	70	73	76	75	+3	F	+6	294
T14	Jing Yan	74	77	69	74	+2	F	+6	294
T14	Wei-Ling Hsu	76	75	68	75	+3	F	+6	294
22	Mirim Lee	72	77	74	72	E	F	+7	295
T23	Danielle Kang	72	73	81	70	-2	F	+8	296
T23	Yani Tseng	74	78	73	71	-1	F	+8	296
T23	Caroline Masson	71	76	76	73	+1	F	+8	296
T23	Sakura Yokomine	76	71	75	74	+2	F	+8	296
T23	Austin Ernst	68	75	78	75	+3	F	+8	296
T23	Brittany Lang	71	75	75	75	+3	F	+8	296
T23	Haru Nomura	73	73	72	78	+6	F	+8	296
T30	Sun Young Yoo	73	77	76	71	-1	F	+9	297
T30	Pornanong Phatlum	74	75	75	73	+1	F	+9	297
T30	Carlota Ciganda	74	74	75	74	+2	F	+9	297
T33	Morgan Pressel	75	75	76	72	E	F	+10	298
T33	Mo Martin	76	73	73	76	+4	F	+10	298
T33	Karine Icher	76	71	74	77	+5	F	+10	298
T36	Lizette Salas	76	76	72	75	+3	F	+11	299
T36	Ayako Uehara	75	75	70	79	+7	F	+11	299
T38	Christina Kim	74	77	76	73	+1	F	+12	300
T38	Amy Yang	78	75	76	71	-1	F	+12	300
T40	Marina Alex	76	77	73	75	+3	F	+13	301
T40	Sydnee Michaels	76	75	74	76	+4	F	+13	301
T40	Kris Tamulis	75	73	78	75	+3	F	+13	301
T40	Mariajo Uribe	72	76	76	77	+5	F	+13	301
T40	Julieta Granada	76	79	74	72	E	F	+13	301
T40	Yanhong Pan	76	77	76	72	E	F	+13	301
T46	Mi Hyang Lee	74	74	77	77	+5	F	+14	302
T46	Lee-Anne Pace	76	73	78	75	+3	F	+14	302
T46	Hee Young Park	77	77	74	74	+2	F	+14	302
T46	Moriya Jutanugarn	75	72	81	74	+2	F	+14	302
T46	Min Lee	79	73	77	73	+1	F	+14	302
T46	Ziqi Ye	73	80	78	71	-1	F	+14	302
52	Jessica Korda	75	75	75	78	+6	F	+15	303
T53	Na Yeon Choi	75	76	74	79	+7	F	+16	304
T53	Min Seo Kwak	77	76	75	76	+4	F	+16	304
T53	Amy Anderson	78	75	76	75	+3	F	+16	304
T53	Mina Harigae	76	73	81	74	+2	F	+16	304
T57	Yuyang Zhang	78	80	76	71	-1	F	+17	305
T57	Kelly Shon	78	82	75	70	-2	F	+17	305
59	Q Baek	73	74	79	80	+8	F	+18	306
T60	Yan Liu	79	77	73	78	+6	F	+19	307
T60	Brittany Lincicome	78	77	76	76	+4	F	+19	307
T60	Yu Liu	78	78	76	75	+3	F	+19	307
T60	Eun-Hee Ji	77	79	77	74	+2	F	+19	307
64	Haruka Morita-Wanyaolu	79	75	75	79	+7	F	+20	308
65	Yunjie Zhang	74	74	84	77	+5	F	+21	309
66	Amelia Lewis	76	80	80	74	+2	F	+22	310
T67	Yuting Shi	75	77	78	81	+9	F	+23	311
T67	Chella Choi	76	78	79	78	+6	F	+23	311
69	Weiwei Zhang	78	86	78	72	E	F	+26	314
70	Simin Feng	81	79	79	76	+4	F	+27	315
71	Muni He	79	79	79	79	+7	F	+28	316
72	Panpan Yan	79	76	82	82	+10	F	+31	319
T73	Jiayi Zhou	83	78	79	81	+9	F	+33	321
T73	Liying Ye	78	81	88	74	+2	F	+33	321
T75	Jienalin Zhang	87	76	83	77	+5	F	+35	323
T75	Sha Wu	77	82	88	76	+4	F	+35	323
77	Liquing Chen	77	85	83	79	+7	F	+36	324
78	Yezhou Lin	80	84	88	83	+11	F	+47	335
WD	Hyo-Joo Kim	WD	WD	WD	WD	WD	-	WD	WD
79	Inbee Park	75	WD	WD	WD	-	-	-	75
80	Beatriz Recari	80	WD	WD	WD	-	-	-	80
		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-