South Korea's rising star Shin Ji-yai cruised to a comfortable victory after a blistering final round of 5-under-par 67 to lift the Thailand Ladies Open title at the Green Valley Country Club yesterday.

On a day when most golfers struggled to keep their scores in the red, Shin, the longest hitter on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour (LAGT), handled the demanding 6,291-yard course shrewdly to emerge a runaway winner. Her domination was so complete that her three-day total score of 10-under-par 206 was 10 strokes ahead of compatriot Na Da-ye.

"Last night, lying on the bed, I played the final round in my mind. I pictured every hole and where I wanted my shots to land. It was birdies on all holes. Today, I applied what I visualised last night and it worked quite well," said Shin, who walked away with US$15,000.

The 20-year-old Shin, who had a healthy four-stroke lead going into the final round, was cool, calm and collected.

The 2006 Korean LPGA rookie of the year had failed to fire on Thursday. But yesterday saw a different Shin. She got back her rhythm and gave absolutely no chance to her rivals to catch up with her.

The stocky player saw her rivals' wilt one by one as the round wore on before duly claiming the second LAGT title of her promising career. The Korean won the Orient China Ladies Open last November.

The omens were not good when Shin bogeyed the par-four first hole. But that was an aberration. She quickly cancelled it out with back-to-back birdies on the next two holes.

Shin continued her strong march with a birdie on the 364-yard seventh hole before dropping another shot after making the turn.

However at that stage she was already out of  sight, holding a

five-stroke lead over the field.

Misfortune seemed to stalk the chasing pack while the challenging conditions brought the best out of Shin's game. She had an eagle three at the difficult 457-yard 11th hole.

After hitting the fairway with an excellent drive, which cut through the strong tail wind, Shin produced the shot of the day, firing an eight-iron from 160 yards to just one foot from the pin, leaving her with an easy eagle putt.

The South Korean kept her momentum going and managed to sink two more birdies on the 13th and 15th holes before suffering another bogey at the 16th hole where she came close to saving a par.

Shin hit her second shot over the green and down a slope. She wriggled her way out of trouble with a nice chip in, which hit the edge of the cup and rolled past four yards to be in a tricky position.

Although a bogey looked inevitable, Shin nearly salvaged a par as the ball stopped at the edge of the cup. She waited for a while hoping the wind would carry it into the hole before tapping it in.

Shin managed to complete her round on a high at the 502-yard 18th hole, which seemed to be her favourite after making an eagle and a birdie on the first two days.

Shin reached the edge of the green in only two shots. Her chip landed four yards from the pin and she coolly holed a birdie putt to the cheers of the crowd.

With Shin in unstoppable form, Da-ye settled for second place. "I didn't want to take any risks. I played it safe," she said, adding that the humid conditions had drained her energy.

Fellow Korean Kim Ha-neul, who took centre stage on the second day with the lowest score of the tournament at six-under 66, failed to get going. She shared third place with compatriot Ji Eun-hee after a three-day aggregate of one-over-par 217.

Kitinan Sanguansak

The Nation