Taiwan's Yani Tseng swept to the number one world ranking after a brilliant four-shot victory in the Aus$500,000 ($500,000) Australian Ladies Masters at Royal Pines.
The 22-year-old will officially overtake South Korea's Jiyai Shin this week after completing the second leg of an Australian double following her seven-stroke win in the Australian Open in Melbourne last weekend.
"I never expected this to come true," Tseng said. "Everything is feeling so good, winning, being world number one."
The Taiwanese star carded a final-round four-under-par 68 to finish the tournament at 24-under 264.
A Three-time major winner and 2008 LPGA Rookie of the Year, Tseng will be feted as a hero when she returns to Taiwan, which has not had a world-class performer in the sport since T.C Chen in the 1980s.
"Hopefully, the first page of the newspaper," she said, when asked how her rise to the top ranking would be received back home.
"I think it is going to be huge."
Eight months Shin's junior, Tseng is the youngest number one since the official world rankings were introduced in 2006 when Sweden's Annika Sorenstam ruled women's golf.
"I don't want to be number one for one week or two weeks, I want to still be there at the end of the year," said Tseng, who had 26 birdies and an eagle in her 72 holes at the Australian Masters.
Her win dominated leading news bulletins in Taiwan, where her performance takes on a special significance as the island is short of world class athletes.
"You won the title at the Australian Ladies Masters and have become the world's number one women golfer. You have become the pride of Taiwan and deserve special praise," President Ma Ying-jeou told her in a congratulatory message.
Tseng was four shots clear of Australian Nikki Campbell and American Stacy Lewis, both on 20-under 268. American Ryann O'Toole was outright fourth on 270.
Tseng was tentative early in the final round as many of her rivals found birdies easy to come by on a day of low scoring.
At one stage Tseng's lead was reduced to just two by Lewis and Campbell after her bogey at the par-four 334-metre seventh.
But after she birdied the par-five 9th and grabbed another at the long 501m par-five 12th, the contest was as good as over.
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