Shin caps golden year with third LPGA victory

MIAMI (Reuters) - South Korea's Shin Ji-yai capped a superb 2008 campaign by winning the LPGA Tour's season-ending ADT Championship by one shot in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday.

The 20-year-old held off the challenge of Australian veteran Karrie Webb with a two-under-par 70 in the final-round shootout to clinch the winner's prize of $1 million.

Webb had to settle for second place after closing with a 71 at Trump International Golf Club, three strokes ahead of American Paula Creamer and Korean Lee Seon-hwa.

Shin, who became the third South Korean to win the women's British Open by clinching her maiden major title in August, birdied two of the first three holes to take early control.

Out in one-under 35, she mixed two birdies with a bogey after the turn to earn the biggest cheque of her career and her third LPGA Tour title this season.

"This has been a really special year for me," a beaming Shin told reporters after becoming the first non-LPGA Tour member to triumph three times on the U.S. circuit.

Shin, who will join the LPGA Tour next year, plays mainly in Asia.

"I gave myself a chance," Webb told reporters after signing off with a birdie three at the last. "To make it to Sunday was the minimum goal for the week then to have a shot for today.

"I played very solidly. I probably just needed a couple more putts though. But I'm happy I made Ji-Yai think about it on the last hole."

Only eight players qualified for the final round at Trump International, the initial 32-strong field having been trimmed to 16 after Friday's halfway cut.

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Carson, California; Editing by Ken Ferris)