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 Ai Miyazato hits her approach from 203 yards on the par-5 18th, a shot that ended in the water and led to a bogey that enabled Na Yeon Choi to win (PHOTO: Eddie Meeks). With a one-shot lead on the par-5 18th on the South Course at Torrey Pines, Miyazato eschewed the conservative lay-up option and tried to hit the green on her second shot with a 5-wood from 203 yards to the hole. But she pulled her ball left into the water of Devlin’s Billabong, and a bogey opened the door for Choi to make birdie on the final hole and salvage what was almost a significant collapse from atop the leaderboard. “I had a really good lie on that shot, so I didn’t think about a lay-up,” said Miyazato, who had four birdies on the day and shot 69 to finish at 15-under par, one stroke worse than Choi. “I knew how I stood. I knew it was a challenging shot, so I made my decision to go for it.” Choi, a 21-year-old from South Korea, began the day with a two-shot lead and stretched it to as much seven shots thanks to two birdies and an eagle on her first six holes. That lead began to vanish with three consecutive bogeys on holes 9, 10 and 11, and it evaporated with a three-putt bogey on the par-4 15th combined with a birdie from Miyazato on the par-3 16th. But just as Miyazato knew where she stood on the finishing hole, so did Choi, and she hit her second shot from 193 yards away to about 35 feet on the fringe to the right of the green. She putted to four feet and made the birdie to seal the win. “I can’t believe I just won my first tournament,” Choi said via interpreter following the round. “Throughout the second half of the tournament today I thought I was going to lose.” After Choi made the putt, she was doused with beer by two of her best friends on the LPGA Tour, Yani Tseng and Song-Hee Kim. Featuring a field of 20 of the best women in the world, the tournament became a two-player race in Sunday’s final round as the South Course proved to be tougher than it had been all week. The stroke average for the day was 72.65 — the first time it was over par — and Miyazato was the only player to break 70. Arguably the most impressive aspect of the tournament was Choi’s performance during Saturday’s third round, when she made 10 birdies and one bogey to post a 63 — the lowest total of the whole week by three strokes. The fact that Miyazato thrust herself into title contention on the last day is hardly surprising considering her collective performance as of late. Entering the Samsung, she had finished inside the top 10 in each of her last six events, including her first career LPGA Tour win at the Evian Masters and a tie for third at the RICOH Women’s British Open. As for Choi, the win netted her a check for $250,000 and gained her entry into the 2010 Samsung World Championship, whose site is yet to be determined. Other notes from the week at Torrey Pines: • Choi’s win marks the 13th consecutive event captured by a non-American. The last player born in the United States to win an LPGA Tour event was Cristie Kerr, who won the Michelob Ultra Open May 10. There were six Americans in the field of 20 at the Samsung and the top finisher was Paula Creamer, who overcame an intestinal ailment and back problems to finish tied for fourth with Lorena Ochoa at 9-under par. • Speaking of Ochoa, she had a topsy-turvy tournament that included 20 birdies, an eagle, 11 bogeys and a double bogey on the par-5 18th during her final round. Though her effort at Torrey Pines was a microcosm of what is one of, if not her most inconsistent year as a professional, the 27-year-old Mexcian still garnered $56,620 and her eighth top-10 finish of the season. • Jiyai Shin, who had a share of the lead after the first round and the solo edge after 36 holes, finished with a disappointing 74 in the final round thanks largely to poor ballstriking — she hit only eight of 18 greens. However, the leader in both the Player and Rookie of the year standings was still able to finish in third thanks to an amazing display on the greens. Shin had only 102 putts for four days (an average of 25.25 putts per day) and an incredible 1.54 average number of putts per green in regulation. ALSO SEE: Final scores from Samsung World Championship Choi's career-low 63 vaults her to top of Samsung leaderboard Samsung World Championship Live Blog |
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Just read today that The LPGA has lost another event in 2010... the Michelob Ultra Championship at Kingsmill, Va. I think that American women golfers, especially those in college programs, had better get a lot more serious about their games. From my observations, they do not work nearly as hard as the players from Korea and other Asian countries. Nothing against the great young women players from Asia, but if their dominance continues to grow on the LPGA tour it is going to threaten the tour's economic viability in this country even more. The LPGA needs other Americans besides Kerr, Stanford, Creamer, Wie and Gulbis to start competing for and winning tour events on a regular basis. The American TV audience, American sponsors, and American spectators will demand that to continue their support of the tour in this country.
| Comment at 9/21/2009 |
