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Cheyenne Woods proved that she shares more than just a surname with her famous uncle Tiger by winning her first big professional title.
The 23-year-old won the Australian Ladies Masters, holding off 17-year-old Australian amateur Minjee Lee to triumph by two shots.
Holding a slender lead going into the final round, Woods proved that composed front-running clearly runs in the family, posting a four-under-par 69 to finish on 16-under at Royal Pines.
The victory earned the former Wake Forest student a two-year exemption on the Ladies European Tour and, afterwards, she struggled to hold back tears as she tried to tell the assembled media just how much the win mattered to her.
“This is a huge accomplishment for me,” said Woods, who turned professional in 2012. “The Ladies European Tour has been great to be able to play this past year.
“Growing up with the last name of Woods, there’s a lot of expectations and pressure and spotlight on you but I always knew that I was able to win” – Cheyenne Woods
“I’ve been able to see all of these great players, play with Solheim Cup members and to be able to come out here and compete with them and come out on top was huge for me.”
She added that she hoped the victory would help people realise that she has a game worthy of her famous surname.
“I’ve been pro for two years and, for the majority of it, people just think of me as Tiger’s niece so now I have a game of my own and I have a title now, a win, which is exciting,” she said. “It’s nice now to say to people that I can play and I’m not just a name.
“Growing up with the last name of Woods, there’s a lot of expectations and pressure and spotlight on you but I always knew that I was able to win.
“I always knew I’d be able to compete with these ladies so now it’s kind of a weight off my shoulders because now everybody knows not just me.”
Cheyenne Woods: A dominant force like uncle Tiger?
Can Cheyenne Woods go on to dominate the women’s game the way her uncle Tiger has dominated the men’s game? Leave your thoughts in our ‘Comments’ section below.
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