Lindley beats Jang in Corning Classic playoff for first tour victory
CORNING, New York (AP) -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.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Oak Hill set to test Senior PGA Championship field
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -Jeff Sluman, by his count, has played Oak Hill some 500 times, which should make him a surefire favorite entering this weekend's Senior PGA Championship, right?
Think again.
Sluman isn't 25 any more, and Oak Hill's renown and majestic tree-lined East Course has aged much better, maintaining its long-standing reputation as a place that can wear down anyone: the young, the experienced, the good and even the well-practiced.
"It's just one of those courses that you think you can get, but you never do," said the 50-year-old Sluman, who grew up in Rochester and is a course member. "I think that it doesn't lull you to sleep, but it just constantly puts pressure on every aspect of your game."
Sluman recounted being amused by Phil Mickelson's first impressions after "Lefty" opened the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill with a 4-under 66.
"I can't get the quote perfect, but when Phil was here, he thought the course was pretty easy," Sluman said, before noting that Mickelson finished outside the top 20 (tied for 23rd). "Oak Hill always has a way of getting back at you."
Then, as if on cue, the walls of the media tent shuddered after being buffeted by a heavy wind that should make Oak Hill's 7,001-yard, par-70 tight and well-protected course an even nastier challenge for the field of 156 competing for the $2 million purse, of which $360,000 goes to the winner.
Add in a good chance of rain and a forecast high of 52 - unseasonably cold even for upstate New York in May - for the first round Thursday, and it leaves some wondering what they might have got themselves into.
"When I played here back in the '80s or whenever, it was a brutal golf course: And I could hit the ball pretty high and drive the ball very straight," said Greg Norman who, at 53, is making his Senior PGA Championship debut. "So when you come to a golf course that's as tough as Oak Hill ... it's going to be probably more mentally demanding now than it was back when we actually played the game very, very well."
Established at its current site in 1926, Oak Hill has hosted two PGA Championships, three U.S. Opens and the Ryder Cup in 1995. Out of the five combined majors played at Oak Hill, only 10 players have finished under par. And it's a course that's earned its credentials, boasting such champions as Jack Nicklaus (1980 U.S. Open) and Lee Trevino (1968 U.S. Open).
It's a Donald Ross-designed course that Tiger Woods described as "the best, fairest and toughest championship golf course I've ever played." And that was after he finished the 2003 PGA Championship with an eye-popping 12-over 292.
And it's a course that current Champions Tour money leader Bernhard Langer believes "will hold up forever."
"No matter how long the guys will hit it off the tee, it doesn't matter," said Langer, who's playing Oak Hill for the fourth time of his career. "This course is very, very difficult."
Don't let the relatively short length or the fact that the course features only two par-5 holes fool you. Neither of the par-5s are reachable in two shots. And then there are the tight fairways lined by trees and dense rough - measuring 5 inches in some places - that demand both accuracy and length, followed by fast, sloped greens that can turn into adventures for anyone finding themselves above the hole.
"It's everything," Langer said. "There's not one hole where I stand on the tee and I feel I have to make birdie here otherwise I lose half a shot to the field. It's a very tough test."
Langer, who counts two victories this season, is considered part of a group of favorites that includes Jay Haas, Tom Watson, Loren Roberts and Denis Watson, who's revived his game since winning last year's Senior PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, S.C. Watson now counts four victories over the past year - one more than he won on the PGA Tour - and currently ranks third on the money list after finishing in a tie for fifth at the Regions Charity Classic last weekend.
For Sluman, 13th on the money list, he has only one objective entering this tournament - and that's to make the cut, something he's failed to do the two other times he's played Oak Hill as a professional.
"I certainly feel I can play the golf course well, and if things go OK, you never know," Sluman said. "You just have to wait until Sunday."
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Kim roars to 4-shot lead at Wachovia Championship
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -Quail Hollow Club's tree-lined, old-style setup has produced an impressive list of winners, ranging from Vijay Singh to Jim Furyk to last year's champion, Tiger Woods.
With Woods unable to defend his Wachovia Championship title following knee surgery, Anthony Kim moved a step away from joining that elite group - a month shy of his 23rd birthday.
The steady, focused, and less flamboyant Kim shot a 6-under 66 on Saturday to take a four-shot lead over Jason Bohn and Heath Slocum after the third round.
While Kim still sports the signature shiny belt buckle with his initials, the big hitter's recent focus on his game left him at 13 under and as close as ever to his first PGA Tour win.
But the best way to describe how Kim has changed was not the long drives and six birdies Saturday, it was a short punch out on the third hole, when he decided not to try a low-percentage shot to reach the green.
"Six months ago I would tried to go for it, and there was double or triple bogey written all over that," Kim said. "I chipped out, saved par, and that kept my round going. Little things like that have added to some good play."
Kim passed Bohn, the second-round leader and his playing partner, by sinking a 9-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole. Kim added another birdie at No. 14, then navigated through the course's tough closing stretch with his best golf of the round.
After getting up and down for par on the 17th, Kim ripped a 324-yard drive on No. 18 and hit his second shot to 7 feet. He made the birdie putt and calmly walked off the course as the only golfer without a bogey on his scorecard and well ahead of one of the strongest non-major fields on the tour.
"I feel like I'm ready," Kim said of trying to become the eighth golfer in his 20s to win this year, "but you never know."
Bohn recovered from a poor day of putting with a chip-in for par on the 18th for a 72 and a second-place tie with Slocum. But Bohn was in awe of what he saw from Kim.
"It was awesome to chip in on the last hole, but I didn't play as well as I wanted to today," Bohn said. "I played with somebody who played extraordinarily good, almost Tiger-esque. He hit a lot of great shots. So it was fun. I got to watch good golf anyhow."
Slocum charged into contention by holing out for eagle on the 15th hole. Slocum shot 68 and will be paired with Kim on Sunday.
"I thought it was going to be maybe three feet short and it really just kept rolling out and rolling out," Slocum said of his eagle. "It was lined up and the crowd starting getting a little bit louder and a little bit louder and it disappeared."
Bohn will play with Stewart Cink, who was tied with Dudley Hart (70) at 8 under.
Cink, whose 65 matched Pat Perez (6 under) for the best round of the tournament, is part of a field of big names with plenty of work to do Sunday. Furyk's 71 left him at 7 under with Geoff Ogilvy (69). Singh (70) and Fred Couples (69) were at 6 under. Phil Mickelson recovered from his two late double bogeys Friday to shoot 69. He was at 5-under with Adam Scott (66).
But they won't have a chance if Kim continues his success at the 7,442-yard layout. Kim and Woods are the only players here with a scoring average of less than 70.
"If he plays like he did today, we're not going to be able to catch him," Bohn said. "But the finish on this golf course is phenomenal, because anything can happen."
After three missed cuts and no finish better than 30th in six tournaments, Kim decided he was "talking a little bit more than I was practicing." His renewed focus led to his tie for second at the Verizon Heritage last month.
Kim said he tried to limit his risk-taking and not get down after bad shots.
"If I didn't hit a good shot, I felt like my life was over," Kim said. "It's hard to play golf that way. It's hard to do anything that way. I'm just having a lot of fun out here. I love being on the PGA Tour and living my dream. It's pretty special."
Bohn, who entered the day with a two-shot lead over Kim, missed birdie putts on 13 and 14, then bogeyed the par-5 15th, a day after he raved about the success with his new putter.
Bohn's short-game woes allowed Kim to roar past him.
Kim was born in Los Angeles and was the NCAA freshman of the year at Oklahoma in 2004. He turned pro after his junior year and burst onto the PGA Tour by tying for second in the 2006 Texas Open.
As the youngest rookie on the PGA Tour in 2007, Kim had four top-10 finishes - including a seventh-place finish at Quail Hollow. But he never won and then struggled to make cuts earlier this year.
"It was a great learning experience," Kim said. "If I won I think there's a chance I wouldn't have practiced as hard as I am now. I feel like I'm very focused out there. Hopefully I can keep it up."
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Clarke wins Asian Open on long birdie putt on 18
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -A long birdie putt on the final hole gave Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke a one-shot victory Sunday in the Asian Open, his first title in five years.
The estimated 25-footer left him at 1-over 73 for an 8-under 280 total, a stroke ahead of Robert-Jan Derksen (73) of the Netherlands.
England's Robert Dinwiddie shot 74 to share third with Italy's Francesco Molinari (69) and Taiwan's Lin Wentang (72).
Clarke missed a series of easier putts to fall back into a tie with Derksen, who appeared to blow his chances with a double-bogey on the 14th after an errant chip went across the green and into the water.
Clarke bogeyed 16 and 17 before his birdie putt on 18. It was his first win on the European or U.S. PGA Tours since 2003, and first since his wife Heather died of cancer in 2006.
"This one is very special," said Clarke, who yelled with delight after his winning putt. "This is the toughest one of all of them and it's nice to get back up to where I feel my golf should be. It's nice to win again and it's a really, really good feeling."
Henrik Stenson had a 68 to finish sixth. Greg Norman shot 71 in a rare tournament appearance to finish tied for 14th, eight shots back in the event jointly sanctioned European Tour and Asian Tour.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Wisconsin women's golf finishs fifth over weekend
MADISON, Wis. -- The lady Badgers golf team returned from Columbus, Ohio, late Sunday evening, toting their clubs and their second-straight fifth-place finish.
Wisconsin competed in the Lady Buckeye Invitational this past weekend and with two straight impressive performances, the Badgers are primed for the upcoming Big Ten Championships.
The invitational can be considered a preview for the Big Ten Championships as eight of the 11 Big Ten teams competed at Columbus. Wisconsin finished fifth overall, but it finished fourth among Big Ten teams, beating Penn State, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota.
Out of the six golfers Wisconsin sent to Ohio, four finished in the top 25. Freshman sensation Carly Werwie put up another remarkable performance, leading the Badgers for the second-straight outing. She shot a 74 in the first round Saturday and put up a score of 76 later that day, earning her a tie for seventh place after day one. Her first day score of 150 was six over par.
Werwie added two strokes to her second round score in the third round, finishing with a 78, six over par. Her total score of 228, 12 over par, placed her in a tie for eighth place overall at the completion of the invitational. Anticipation for success is high after Werwie's recent phenomenal performances, and she is a golfer to keep an eye on at the Big Ten Championships.
Senior Katie Elliott came in second among the Badgers and tied for 12th overall. For Elliott, the invitational embodied her entire season. She golfed three strong consistent rounds of golf, finishing with a score of 231, 15 over par. Elliott shot 78 in round one, 76 in round two and finished with a 77 in round three.
Going into the Big Ten Championships, the question is not whether Elliott will or will not golf well. The question is whether she can take her consistency to a new level of play in her final golf postseason as a Badger.
Werwie is not the only young Badger competing at a high level lately. Sophomore Kelsey Verbeten finished third among the Badger golfers and tied for 14th overall. Her overall score of 232 put her only one stroke behind Elliott, mostly due to her second-round score of 82.
Junior Natasha Lopez swung her way into the top-25 finishers overall because of a spectacular third-round score of 74. Lopez shot an 84 in the first round and a 79 in the second, finishing in a tie for 25th.
Junior Jeana Dahl shot an 87 in the first round but improved immensely in the second and third rounds. She put up a score of 80 in the second round and finished the third round with a score of 76. Dahl finished the invitational in a tie for 41st with a total score of 243.
Junior Isabel Alvarez rounded out the Badger golfers, tying for 60th with a score of 251. She golfed a consistent three rounds, putting up an 84, 82 and 85.
After the Lady Buckeye Invitational, few can argue the Badgers are not prepared for the Big Ten Championships. Of the eight Big Ten teams competing in Columbus, only Ohio State had more golfers in the top 25, with five. Wisconsin hopes to continue its hot streak at the Big Ten Championships, which begin this Friday.
Copyright 2008, U-WIRE
Buckeye golfer Sebert finishes fifth after lackluster final round
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Tying for fifth place at the 39th-Annual Robert Kepler Intercollegiate was not good enough for Zach Sebert.
The Ohio State senior co-captain wanted to win.
"Personally, I wasn't very satisfied," Sebert said. "I should've won the tournament as well as I played, but I kind of had a letdown in the last round."
Playing as an individual in the Buckeyes' lone home tournament during the regular season, Sebert fired an even-par 71 in the first round, followed by scores of 74 and 78 to finish at 10-over-par.
"I kept myself in position for the first two rounds," Sebert said. "I wasn't missing a lot of shots. I was keeping close to par and making my shorter putts.
"In the third round, I kind of let myself down. I was making some of the longer putts that I probably shouldn't have made, but I missed my shorter putts and that cost me."
The Buckeyes finished fourth overall in the 14-team field, shooting 57 over par.
Colorado won the tournament by shooting a 48-over-par 900. Michigan State finished three strokes back and Kent State edged OSU by a stroke for third place.
"Our players were disappointed we didn't win our home tournament, but they competed and finished ahead of some of the teams ranked ahead of us," OSU associate head coach Brad Sparling said. "This finish should help put us into position to make the NCAA Central Regional Tournament for the first time since 2004."
Head coach Jim Brown had to miss the tournament due to the flu.
"Our thoughts were with coach Brown this weekend," Sparling said. "He could not be there because he was suffering from a bad case of the flu for the past three and a half days, and was home resting."
Vaughn Snyder and Bo Hoag led the Buckeyes by tying for 13th place at 13 over par 226. Brad Smith finished in a tie for 23rd at 17 over par. Kyle Coconis placed in a tie for 32nd place with 19-over-par and Patrick Simard shot 24 over par, good enough for a tie for 47th place.
"Vaughn rebounded after a tough second round (81) and played well in his last round (73)," Sparling said. "I think Vaughn learned to get a better grasp of his emotions and that's going to help him in the future. Bo had another solid tournament for us and his future looks bright."
OSU takes this week off in preparation for the Big Ten Championships April 25-27 at East Lansing, Mich.
"We're as good as any other team out there," Sebert said. "We strike the ball just as well as any team in the nation.
"As long as we do well in our short game and post some good scores, I expect us to win."
Copyright 2008 U-WIRE
Past failures behind her, Lorena Ochoa wins Nabisco
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) -Lorena Ochoa set the silver trophy on a table, clasped hands with her parents and sprinted to the edge of the lake surrounding the 18th green at Mission Hills, raising both arms as she plunged into the water.
Whether she is playing or celebrating, the Mexican star is unstoppable.
Ochoa buried her competition Sunday at the Kraft Nabisco Championship with back-to-back birdies at the turn to build a five-shot lead, then closed with eight pars for a 5-under 67 and another romp in a major that once gave her fits.
Even more inspiring were the festivities that followed.
She joined hands with her parents and sister-in-law and raced into the water. Her brother, Alejandro, swing coach Rafael Alarcon and caddie Dave Brooker leapt from the bridge. Before long, two dozen friends and family members were bobbing in the water to the rhythm of a mariachi band, a celebration unlike any other at this major.
"I thought for a moment, 'Maybe I should try to do something funny, like a flip or something,"' Ochoa said. "No, no, no. Too dangerous. So I did the regular jump. You always worry about the jump, but once you win, I don't care."
The ripple effect is frightening.
Ochoa became the first player since Annika Sorenstam in 2005 to win two straight majors, having captured her first major in the Women's British Open at St. Andrews last summer by four shots.
In four starts this year, she has won three tournaments by a combined 23 shots.
"Nothing can stop her," said Se Ri Pak, who became the youngest player inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame last year, a record that certainly will be broken by the 26-year-old Ochoa.
Sorenstam and Suzann Pettersen each closed with a 68 and tied for second, although they were never close.
Ochoa, who finished at 11-under 277, never trailed under the blazing desert sun, and was threatened only briefly. She answered with two straight birdies to make the turn in 32, and the rout was on.
"It was commanding golf in both," Brooker said of the last two majors, starting with her four-shot win at St. Andrews. "She's very polished. Every win that goes along, she gains even more momentum. If she had been putting better the first three days, this might have been a runaway even earlier."
This has always been somewhat of a home game for Ochoa, who has been coming to the Nabisco since she was an amateur and bringing what seems like half of Mexico with her. She spent Wednesday morning meeting with the maintenance staff at Mission Hills, helping them cook breakfast and thanking them for their hard work in preparing the course.
Lorena is pronounced similar to "la reina," Spanish for the queen, and there's no doubt who rules women's golf.
With as much dominance as Tiger Woods enjoys on the PGA Tour, she also has raised possibilities of winning all four majors.
"Even when I was on a roll, I don't think I ever dominated like this," said Karrie Webb, who won five out of eight majors from 1999 through 2001. "People don't understand how hard it is to stay on top of your game like that. I did it for a few years. Annika did it for five. Tiger has done it for 12."
Sorenstam, who battled a stomach virus on the weekend, tried to give Ochoa a run but could never get closer than three shots. She closed with a 68 and tied for second with Pettersen, who also had a 68.
Even healthy, it's doubtful she could have had enough to stop Ochoa.
Sorenstam was impressed that Ochoa would handle the pressure of playing before what amounts to a home crowd in the California desert, with Mexican flags at every turn, and with the memories of blowing good chances at Mission Hills the last two years.
"She has come out as the leader and is staying as the leader," Sorenstam said. "That takes a lot of courage, takes a lot of guys and it takes a good athlete. I could be wrong, but I think the goal for her is just to take one tournament at a time and try to win each one of them. And it turns out to be the last two majors. I'm sure it won't be the last, either."
Ochoa earned $300,000 for her 20th victory, and is one point away from the performance criteria of the World Golf Hall of Fame. She could get that next week with a victory in Mexico, although Ochoa would have to wait until she completes 10 years on the LPGA Tour, which would be 2012.
Ochoa had some nervous moments, feeling the most pressure from Hee-Won Han until a quick turnaround on the front nine.
Despite a birdie-birdie start for a three-shot lead, Ochoa went five straight holes without hitting the ball closer than 30 feet, and Han pulled within one shot with birdies on the fourth and sixth holes.
But it all turned in a three-hole stretch.
Ochoa saved par with a 40-foot downhill chip to 4 feet, while Han three-putted for bogey. On the tough par-3 eighth, Ochoa hit a high draw with a 6-iron that held against a left-to-right wind and settled 15 feet away from the back-left pin for a birdie. Han hit into the trees and took bogey, and there was another two-shot swing on the ninth when Ochoa birdied it for the first time this week.
Then came the walk to the 10th tee, which passes the 18th green.
Ochoa kept her head down, eyes focused only on her next step, resisting any temptation to gaze at the lake around the 18th. This was the 20-year anniversary of the winner jumping into the lake, and Ochoa badly wanted to be part of it.
"I couldn't stop thinking of that jump in the lake," she said. "It was something that I've been waiting for a long time."
The mariachi band struck up the famous Mexican tune, "Canta y no llores," which translates to "Sing and don't cry."
There was a little of both.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
|
