Chonlada Chayanun earned her first victory as a pro on Saturday when the big-hitting Thai emerged from a five player play-off to claim the Hengqing Phoenix Tree Building Orient Golf Challenge title in southern Guangdong.

With Thai Wanchana Poruangrong (70), South Korean Seo Ji-hyun (68) and China's Sui Xiang (71) and Liu Ying (66) also finishing on five-under 211 through 54 holes of regulation play at the China LPGA Tour event, Chonlada (69) quickly ended it with a birdie at the first extra hole.

"I am really happy now, I can't express how happy I am. I put in a lot of hard work and it worked," said the 25-year-old Chonlada, a third-year pro from Nakhon Ratchasima province in northeast Thailand.

"This is my first play-off since I turned pro. I was a little nervous when I stood on the 18th tee. I tried to calm myself down and tried to focus on what I was doing. I tried to do my best."

Starting the day four strokes off the lead, Chonlada quickly went to work with birdies at the second and seventh holes before dropping a stroke at the ninth to make the turn at three-under. The Iowa State grad then reeled off consecutive birdies starting at the 12th hole before making bogey at the 14th hole. A key birdie at the last got her into the playoff.

As the wind continued to blow as it had done throughout the tournament, the narrow par-four, 329-yard 18th hole with water on the left and trees on the right of the fairway proved an ideal test to decide the winner.

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