Leta Lindley wins the LPGA Corning Classic
June 5th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Leta Lindley birdied the first hole of a playoff with Jang Jeong to win the LPGA Corning Classic on Sunday, her first career victory in her 295th professional start on the U.S. women’s golf tour.”I am just so overwhelmed,” said Lindley, who took two years off to give birth to her two children. “I can’t hardly believe it. I’ve been dreaming about this day forever.”
Lindley, who lost a two-hole playoff with Chris Johnson at the 1997 McDonald’s Championship, won $225,000 (€142,930) to boost her earnings for the year to $332,814 (€211,418).
Jang and Lindley, with her husband caddying and her young son and daughter watching on television, began the final hole of regulation tied at 11 under. Lindley, in the group ahead of Jang, made a two-putt par from the front edge of the green to place the pressure on Jang.
Jang’s drive at 18 sailed into the right rough and, blocked by an overhanging branch just ahead, she had to punch her second shot out and it landed in a greenside bunker. With only her right foot in the sand, Jang blasted to 6 1/2 feet and made the par putt to force the playoff.
Jang, who fell to 0-3 in playoffs, drove first on the extra hole, No. 18 again, and this time hooked her tee shot into the left rough. Lindley followed with a drive down the right side and hit her second shot within easy birdie range.
Jang rallied again with an even better sand shot that set up a tap-in par. After Jang made it, Lindley calmly stepped up and sank her winning putt.
Yoo Sun-young (66) and Kim Mi-hyyun (66) finished in a tie for third at 10 under.
Meredith Duncan (68) was alone in fifth, one shot ahead of Becky Morgan (67), and Kim Song-hee (70). Erica Blasberg, tied with Jang for the lead at the start of play Sunday at 7 under, shot 7-over 79 to finish tied for 37th.
Two years ago, Jang led here by three shots after three rounds, faltered with a 76 and finished seventh. On Sunday, she seemed intent on erasing that painful memory, making two birdies and an eagle in her first five holes to reach 11 under.
Jang, who tied for third in the SemGroup Championship and tied for second at Kingsmill in her previous two starts, made bogey at No. 9 and Lindley tied for the lead with birdies at Nos. 10, 11 and 12.
Jang birdied No. 16 to regain the lead, and just moments later Lindley hit sand wedge from 94 yards to 5 inches for a tap-in birdie at 17 to tie it again.
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Suzann Petterson wins The Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open
June 5th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Suzann Pettersen was crowned Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open champion on Sunday after the fourth and final round of the competition was cancelled due to a water logged course at Golf Gerre Losone.
Tournament organisers took the decision to reduce the event from 72 to 54 holes at 11am on Sunday as many of the fairways and greens were flooded after heavy rainfall, making the course unplayable.
Andy Lott, director of tournament operations, said: “Unfortunately we find the course is unplayable. We have too much water out there to make it safe for people to play and to be fair.”
With the fourth round cancelled, the results at the end of round three were final. Pettersen’s winning total of 194, 22-under-par, broke the Ladies European Tour’s record for the lowest winning 54-hole aggregate. This previously stood at 190 (-17), having been set by French woman Karine Icher at the 2004 Catalonia Ladies Masters. Pettersen revealed that she had been aiming to go much lower than that and beat Laura Davies’ record of 25-under for 72 holes, set at the 1995 Guardian Holidays Irish Open at St Margaret’s.
“I was going to try to get to 30; that was my aim from the last couple of days: get to 30 under so who knows. I would have had to have played really well today if that was the case but I think it was possible,” she said.
“If it’s not playable it’s not playable and there is not much you can do. That’s what happens when you play outdoor sport every now and again. I was kind of looking forward to keeping going, throwing some birdies on the board and seeing how low I could go.”
With the results standing as they were at the end of the third round, Pettersen took her third Ladies European Tour title, and her eighth overall, by a six stroke margin with South Korean teenager Amy Yang taking second on 16-under-par. Gwladys Nocera, who broke her own course record with a ten-under 62 in the third round, finished third on 15-under, with Lotta Wahlin three shots further back in fourth.
Pettersen, the world number three, led the way with rounds of 67, 63 and 64 to earn the first prize of €78,500. She dedicated her prize to a 24-year-old family friend who passed away on Monday.
“I would like to dedicate this victory to Karolyn,” said a tearful Pettersen at the prize giving. “She is a dear family friend of ours. We went to see her in the hospital at the end of last week and we pretty much knew she wasn’t going to make it. Of course it’s tough to see a friend of yours like that, who is only 24 years old. She had a blood clot on her leg.”
Pettersen will take increased confidence back to America ahead of her defense of the McDonald’s LPGA Championship in a fortnight.
“I’m really glad McDonalds is only two weeks away. Everything is about trying to prepare for the big ones. I’ve been working hard over the last couple of weeks and now everything is starting to fall together,” she said. “I will bring all the good feelings and the confidence back to the US. I will try to have a good week next week and go into McDonalds with a clean mind and just play my heart out again.”
In finishing second, Yang posted her career best finish since winning the 2006 ANZ Ladies Masters as a 16-year-old amateur. She earned €53,287.50 to move into the lead on the New Star Money List and also collected an Omega watch for her hole-in-one at the seventh in the third round.
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Lorena Ochoa Wins the Sybase Classic for the Third Time
June 5th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
18th May
A day after leaving the retiring Annika Sorenstam in her wake, Ochoa shot a 1-under 71 and posted a one-stroke victory over five players Sunday for her third straight victory in the rain-shortened Sybase Classic.
“It was a tough day, but I did it,” Ochoa said. “I think that was what was important. It doesn’t matter how you do it sometimes; you play really good, other players struggle, sometimes you just keep yourself in a good position. Today it was different; it was a different win, but I enjoyed it a lot.”
The victory was Ochoa’s 23rd overall and 20th since April 2006. The $300,000 prize pushed her career earnings past the $12 million mark, making her the fastest player on the LPGA Tour to reach that plateau.
Ochoa accomplished it in just over five years, more than four years faster than the old mark set by Sorenstam, who played herself out of contention with a second-round 73.
The win also ended the 26-year-old Mexican’s two-tournament victory drought and reaffirmed her status as the best player in women’s golf.
This win was much different than her first five this year. Ochoa won those events by a combined 37 strokes, with the closest margin being three shots.
Ochoa grabbed an early four-shot lead on Sunday with a birdie on No. 2 in the $2 million tournament, but she spent the rest of the day missing birdie putts and watching a host of players make runs at her lead.
Sophie Gustafson of Sweden, Morgan Pressel, Catriona Matthew of Scotland, rookie leader Na Yeon Choi and Brittany Lang all finished the 54-hole tournament at 9-under-par 207, a shot behind the winner.
Gustafson came the closest to catching Ochoa. She birdied No. 16 from 20 feet to get within two shots, and she pulled to within one when the leader bogeyed the par-3 No. 17 after hitting her tee shot into a bunker.
Both players reached the par-5 No. 18 in three, with Ochoa getting into position despite having to contend with some trees on her second shot after a drive into the rough.
Gustafson had a 12-footer to tie. The putt was right all the way.
Ochoa, who missed 10 birdie putts of 20 feet or less, then simply had to two-putt from 8 feet to win for the 24th time on tour. She missed the first putt, and then tapped in.
“I think that’s why today feels a little bit weird, because I just missed so many putts, and there was a couple of them that maybe I misread, but some of them I hit pretty good,” Ochoa said.
Pressel, who shot a final-round 6-under 66 to zoom into contention, also got within a shot after Ochoa bogeyed No. 9 and she birdied No. 12 for her fifth birdie in seven holes.
“I think I had two holes where I didn’t have birdie opportunities, and one of them I chipped in,” said the 19-year-old Pressel.
Ochoa then had a two-putt birdie at the par-5 No. 11 to get back to 11-under, and she stayed there by making a 15-footer for par at No. 13 after grounding her second shot out of the rough from one side of the fairway to the other.
Ochoa took a wild swing at the rough with her wood after the shot and then slammed the club head into the grass. She breathed a sigh of relief and pumped her fist twice after making the par saver.
It was the same reaction she had on No. 18 after tapping in and hugging caddie Dave Brooker.
“Dave told me on the 18th after I made that putt, ‘I really like when you win by five,”‘ Ochoa said. “It’s a little bit easier when you’re walking up that 18th fairway; I guess you can enjoy a little bit more the last walk, instead of being nervous.”
Christina Kim finished two shots back and a shot ahead of H.J. Choi. Natalie Castrale and Jimin Kang finished four shots behind Ochoa.
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Lotta Wahlin Wins Maiden Victory In Turkey
May 15th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Sweden’s Lotta Wahlin cruised to her maiden Ladies European Tour victory at the inaugural Garanti American Express Turkish Ladies Open on Sunday.
The 24-year-old carded rounds of 71, 71, 73 and 70 at the punishing National Golf Club in Antalya to win by 12 shots on seven under par.
It was the second largest winning margin in the LET’s 30-year history, Laura Davies winning the 1995 Guardian Irish Holidays Open by 16 shots.
“It’s fantastic. I’m so happy. I only understood I’d won on the 18th green because I didn’t think about it before then,” said Wahlin.
“I have been on tour for three years so I think it was time to win. I want to win three times this year so I’m going to keep on going.”
The 24-year-old from Linkoping carded rounds of 71, 71, 73 and 70 at the punishing National Golf Club in Antalya, Turkey, to win by 12 shots on a total of seven-under-par.
Another Swede, Johanna Westerberg (71), shared second with South African Stacy Lee Bregman (72) and Spaniard Paula Marti (74), who was eight shots back in outright second entering the final round.
Wahlin, who was the only player to finish below par for the tournament, led from start to finish and never faltered on a course featuring narrow fairways, numerous red pine trees and extremely hard greens. She extended her lead each day and became the second Swedish first time winner in only three events on the fledgling 2008 Ladies European Tour schedule, after Emma Zackrisson won the Open de Espana at Panoramica Golf and Country Club three weeks ago.
Lotta won a non-official invitational event featuring 20 of the LET’s best players in Spain just a month ago.
“I was just enjoying it. I wanted to finish well. My goal for today was to shoot in the 60s so I had to make a birdie on the last but I didn’t. That was my only goal. ”
Top Ten Results
1 285 -7 Lotta Wahlin
2= 297 +5 Johanna Westerberg
Stacy Lee Bregman
Paula Marti
5= 298 +6 Amy Yang
Marianne Skarpnord
7= 299 +7 Trish Johnson
Lisa Hall (ENG)
9 300 +8 Stephanie Arricau
10 301 +9 Iben Tinning
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