KUALA LUMPUR, 29 July 2013 – Yayasan Sime Darby (YSD) congratulates its sponsored golfer Ainil Johani Abu Bakar for her maiden victory since turning professional three years ago, at the 2013 KENDA Tire TLPGA Open in Taiwan.

Ainil fired rounds of 73, 65 and 74 for a three-day total of four-under 212, beating Taiwan’s Babe Liu by two shots and Taiwan's Lin Tzu Chi and South Korea’s Chung Ye Na who tied for third place with a one-under 215.

The tournament concluded on July 26 at the Taipei Golf Club in Linkou, Taiwan.

YSD Chairman Tun Musa Hitam congratulated Ainil for her excellent performance, which netted her a cash prize of NT600,000 (about RM64,620) and pushed her to eighth place in the Order of Merit of the Ladies Asian Golf Tour (LAGT).

“We are proud of the hard work and dedication Ainil has put in to hone her skills as a professional golfer. We hope to see more wins from Ainil in her journey to reach the top of her game,” he said.

For Ainil, her victory could not taste any sweeter.

“It is good to win. My efforts for the last two-and-a-half years have finally paid off but I’m not going to let this get to my head. I’m not going to put much pressure on myself and keep working on improving my game,” she said. “I owe my thanks to YSD for their sponsorship, which has been a great assistance in the development of my golfing career,” she further added.

The 2013 KENDA Tire TLPGA Open was Ainil’s ninth golf tournament for the year. She will be competing in another tournament in the TLPGA CTBC Open in Taiwan this September.

YSD has been supporting Ainil, a 24-year-old golfer since 2011, with a sponsorship of RM57,960 to help develop the national ‘star’ in the making.. The sponsorship helps Ainil with her tournament fees and travelling expenses when participating in golf tournaments under the LAGT.

Ainil is now training with Coach Tony Maloney since late 2011, an Australian PGA full member who is based at the Saujana Golf Club.

YSD is also sponsoring another professional golfer, Jean Chua, who is touring the Symetra Tour in the United States, which is the official Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) development tour.