SHANGHAI: Feng Shanshan is to be China’s first golfer ranked world number one after she claimed back-to-back wins with a thrilling victory at the Blue Bay LPGA on Saturday.
No Chinese golfer, male or female, has ever topped the rankings before and her slice of history underlines the country’s growing heft in a sport that was banned under Mao Zedong.
Feng, who started the week third in the world, is projected to rise to top spot at the expense of South Korean rookie Park Sung-Hyun, the LPGA said.
Twenty-eight-year-old Feng’s ascent to the summit comes thanks to a nervy one-shot victory over Moriya Jutanugarn after the Thai’s birdie try on the 72nd hole lipped out, to the delight of the home crowd on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.
Feng’s fellow Chinese players showered the trailblazer in water on the 18th green at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Club.
She told LPGA.com: “I’m really, really excited and very proud of myself and I think it’s special because I won this tournament to become world number one.
“I finished first in China, so I actually claimed the world number one in front of all the people at home,” said Feng, who is from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and turned professional in 2007.
Feng, who also captured last week’s TOTO Japan Classic title, added: “Hopefully there will be more Chinese getting on the tours and more world number ones coming up from China.
“I just want 2017 to keep going. A never-ending 2017, that would be great.”
The deposed number one Park was tied third and relinquishes the top spot after just one week.
For Feng, the Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, it is the culmination of more than a decade of toil on tour.
It is also a third victory of the season for her and ninth career LPGA win, one of those a major.
As well as being China’s first number one, she was also the country’s first winner on the LPGA Tour (2012 Wegman’s LPGA Championship).
Her rise to the top was widely celebrated in Chinese media, but the Beijing government has an ambivalent attitude toward golf, which is traditionally viewed in China as bourgeois.
On the one hand Chinese authorities have shut dozens of golf courses — many of them illegal — and curbed new construction, while at the same time holding men’s and women’s tournaments like the one that Feng won.
The LPGA Tour heads back to the US next week for the CME Group Tour Championship in Florida, the final event of the 2017 season.
Trailblazer Feng is China’s first world number one golfer
Trailblazer Feng is China’s first world number one golfer
Napoli cruise past Milan to book Italian Super Cup final spot in Riyadh
- Napoli make second Super Cup final in new four-team format, which was introduced in the Kingdom in 2023
- Milan rue missed chances as Rafael Leao’s absence due to knock proves costly
RIYADH: On one of the coldest evenings of the year in Riyadh, the atmosphere inside Al-Awwal Park was anything but subdued. Thousands of fans braved the conditions to witness another major chapter in Saudi Arabia’s growing international calendar, as Napoli and AC Milan went head-to-head in the first semi-final of the 2025/26 Italian Super Cup.
It wasn’t to be for I Rossoneri, as goals from David Neres and Rasmus Hojlund proved decisive for Napoli, sending them into the Super Cup final for the second time in the new four-team format after missing out on last year’s edition.
Backed by raucous Forza Milan chants, Milan nearly opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Ruben Loftus-Cheek tested Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, who reacted sharply to make a vital save.
Napoli responded with a spell of pressure of their own, but were repeatedly denied by a well-organised Milan defence.
Milan came close again in the 34th minute, as Adrien Rabiot was found inside the six-yard box from a dipping cross, only for his effort to fly over Milinkovic-Savic.
They would keep that momentum going as just a few minutes later, a swift counter-attack led by Alexis Saelemaekers found Christopher Nkunku on the edge of the box, though his strike also flew over goal.
Napoli punished Milan’s missed chances in the 39th minute. A low pass from Rasmus Hojlund across the box was parried by Mike Maignan straight into the path of David Neres, who made no mistake slotting the ball into the open net.
Napoli pushed for a second before the interval, with Hojlund testing Maignan again, who turned the striker’s effort behind for a corner. The Milan goalkeeper was called into action once again in the second half, producing a strong save to deny Amir Rrahmani.
Yet it was another powerful strike that finally broke past the Frenchman, with Rasmus Hojlund capitalising on a deep through ball from Leonardo Spinazzola to extend Napoli’s lead in the 63rd minute and tighten their grip on the game.
Milan fans briefly found a lift in the 75th minute when Luka Modric came out to a standing ovation, though it proved to be their only notable moment of the second half. Despite enjoying spells of possession, Massimiliano Allegri’s side were unable to break through and exited the tournament after just 90 minutes.
Napoli will now turn their attention to the final, where they will look to lift the Italian Super Cup for the third time in their history. For Riyadh, the semi-final marked another night of elite European football, with fans set to witness more action in tomorrow’s semi-final between Bologna and Inter Milan.
