LPGA. Kingsmill Championship. Sexy Cristie Wins.

Sexy Cristie Kerr won the Kingsmill Championship, in a two hole sudden death play-off against Suzann Petterson, on the River Course in Williamsburg Virginia.

 

Cristie Kerr / Hunter Martin / Getty Images

Cristie and Suzann both finished tied on -12 under par for the tournament. Cristie with a final round of -2 under par, 69 and Suzann with a sterling effort of -4 under 67. Cristie sealed the deal with two foot putt for par on the 18th hole, Suzann had missed her twelve-foot attempt for her par.

Cristie has now won the Kingsmill Championship three times, and was thrilled with the outcome;

” I’m just so thrilled.  Honestly, the way I hit it today to even have a chance to win. I just made so many putts out there to save par and kind of save any momentum, and I started hitting it a little bit better late in the round just in time to make a; catch up a couple shots.  Yeah, really hard fought, really hard fought.  I’m very happy.”

She had missed a good birdie chance on the first play-off hole to win, but said the miss did not dent her confidence one little bit;

“My confidence?  It didn’t shake my confidence, I probably made 12 15‑footers today.  Missing one is probably law of averages.  It didn’t really shake my confidence.  I was kind of disappointed that I wasn’t able to just close it outright there because it was getting really cold and the monumental nine‑hole playoff between Paula and Jiyai last year, I didn’t want that to happen,  So it was good to get another chance.  I absolutely roasted my tee shot the second playoff hole and hit a fairly good iron in there, maybe just blocked it a little bit, but she kind of stumbled a little bit and that’s what you need to win a playoff. It definitely makes it really sweet because I definitely didn’t have the swing today until the end of the round. Just couldn’t stay centered, just moving a little quick, a little quick with my transition, maybe a little extra adrenaline been in the final round.  That’s happened before.  When you’re hitting it really well and like Suzann was, it’s getting a lot of birdie opportunities, so when you have to make a lot of those par‑saving putts, it’s do or die, whatever it takes. I’ve won all sorts of different ways and this is definitely one of the sweeter ones because I didn’t have the A game today and my mental game, you know, kept me in there and kept the momentum kind of going in the right direction and I just hung around until, you know, I could find a better swing and start hitting it a little better coming in.”

Seventeen year old Ariya Jutanugarn bounced back, carding one of the low rounds of the day, -5 under par 66. She finished in a tie for third place with Ilhee Lee, both at -10 under par.

Stacy Lewis shot 1-under par 70 and finished at 9-under par in a tie for fifth along with her playing partner for the final round, Angela Stanford, who carded a -2 under par round. Inbee Park at -8 under for the tournament finished in seventh place after her nice -4 under 67 in the final round.

LPGA. Kingsmill Championship. Sexy Cristie Kerr Claims Lead.

Sexy Cristie Kerr has claimed the third round lead at -10 under par at the Kingsmill Championship after her stunning round of -5 under par, 66, to lead the tournament by two shots.

Cristie Kerr / LPGA

Fifteen time LPGA Tour winner Cristie has already won twice here at the River Course, and she now has a two shot lead heading into the final round. She is pretty confident of victory here;

” You have to really play a good round tomorrow either whether you’re two ahead or two behind, like I said. I think just going to try to stay lose, I’m going to try and stay focused and, you know, in those pressure situations, pressure moments tomorrow that I’m going to face, I think I’ve just got to keep doing what I’ve done, you know, the last three days and that’s really focus on the process of the shot.  I know it sounds kind of boring, but that’s when I do my best.  If I do that and I start rolling the rock, I’m going to be hard to beat.”

Tied in second place are Stacy Lewis ans Suzann Petterson, both at -8 under par, they are no strangers themselves when it comes to victories.

Suzann thinks it is all up for grabs tomorrow;

” Yeah, I mean, I think there’s a lot of great players out there right there in the mix. Cristie’s two ahead, I don’t really think that that’s a massive advantage right now.  I mean, we’re all going to go out tomorrow trying to shoot as low as we can.  It would take more than 10‑under to win, so I guess, I don’t know, we’ll see after four rounds who’s on top. I just think this golf course produces a winner with a good ball striker, it’s a ball striker’s course.  It has produced probably the best ball strikers champions in the past.  There will never be a surprise around this track of who’s going to win it.”

Stacy agreed, saying the tournament had a Solhiem Cup feeling to it;

” You look at the past champions, we’ve talked about it all week, but I think it’s great for the fans, you know. They know our names, they’ve seen us win, and it’s good for the tournament to have players up there like that.  We kind of had a little Solheim Cup feel today going.”

Ariya Jutanugarn, the overnight leader, had a poor round today, really dropping out of contention at -5 under par for the tournament. She had a bogey on her first hole and never seemed to recover, she said it was not nerves but really bad putting;

” You know, I never nervous with my game today, just have bad for putting and just miss my driver on 1st hole, that’s it. First hole I had bogey, I hit my driver so I tried to hit my low ball but it went to the left to the water and I have bogey, and second I have bogey again and, you know, like after that my putting’s like so bad like it make me feel like not confident with my game today because I made like yesterday, I made like short putt three feet two or three time today and I still feel; I tried to track the line, tried to trust my putting but I still miss it a lot.”

 

 

 

LPGA. Kingsmill Championship. Ayria Asserts Her Position at the Top

Seventeen year-old Ariya Jutanugarn asserted her top spot in the Kingsmill Championship with a second round of par, teeing off on number ten she sadly collected three bogey’s on the back nine, but recovered with three birdies on the front nine.  It was enough though to maintain her position at the top of the leaderboard, at -7 under par.

Ayria Jutanugarn / LPGA

Ayria reported that all three bogeys were due to missing short putts;

” So it just like have to keep like my putting, you know, everything’s like I hit my irons like very good, my driver is like perfect, so I just want to try to fix my putting. So after the front nine, my putting’s get better but I still miss a lot of short putt. You know, when I first start on the front nine, I saw the leader, so it’s okay, I just want to keep my game. And right now for me everybody still have chance to win, so I just do my best my last two day.”

Tied in second place, at -6 under par, are Angela Stanford and Stacy Lewis, the girls are really close together, with both of them shooting first and second rounds of  68, also carding four birdies and one bogey each in Friday’s second round.

Stacy said she had given herself lots of chances in the early windy conditions;

” You know, I played pretty much the same, I think I hit it a little better today, which you needed to do because it was so windy, but I gave myself a lot of birdie chances, which was nice.  Definitely would have liked to have made a few more putts, but I think I’m in a really good spot going into the weekend.  The wind’s not dying down out there so it’s going to be tough this afternoon.”

Angela referred to Ground-Hog Day;

” Overall it seems like it was Ground-Hog Day, I hit 14 greens again and had 29 putts again and got up and down every time again, so kind of interesting that they seem like carbon copies of each other.  One was a 3‑putt, yesterday I had one 3‑putt, so it’s really weird.”

There are three players are in a tie for fourth place after the two rounds, all at 5-under par, including two former Kingsmill Championship winners “Sexy” Cristie Kerr and Suzann Pettersen. They are joined by the 2011 Kia Classic Champ Sandra Gal.

 

LPGA. Kingsmill Championship. Ariya Ascends.

The Kingsmill Championship got off to a good start today with Ariya Jutanugarn from Thailand ascending the leaderboard, to lead the tournament by two shots.

Ariya Jutanugarn / Steve Helber

 

17 year-old Ayria, playing on a sponsor exemption,  cruised through her first sixteen holes on The River Course during Thursday’s opening round, with eight birdies, including six during her first seven holes. She came unstuck on hole seventeen, a par three, she made double bogey, but recovered a bit with a birdie on eighteen. Ayria can be very proud of her -7 under par, 64, opening round on the par 71 lay-out;

” I know like eighteen is not a long par four, I can make birdie on that hole.Today, I made a lot of shots. I don’t have any nerve any more.”

In second place at -5 under par, after her first round of 66 is two-time champion at Kingsmill, Cristie Kerr, who birdied both 17 and 18 to finish in style. Cristie spoke about the early wind;

“The wind was really strong when we first started and then, you know, kind of toward the tail end of the front nine it seemed to die down a little and then picked back up, so it was kind of coming and going all day. What was good was the wind direction was fairly consistent.  Sometimes on the 4th and 5th hole it can really swirl around and it can be hard to tell what it’s doing.  It stayed pretty consistent out there as far as one direction so that was at least a good thing. Momentum’s always the thing that you want to try and have, you try and carry over the play from today into tomorrow as best you can.”

Tied in third place at -4 under par, after rounds of 67, are So Yeon Ryu from South Korea and Dewie Claire Schreefel, who hails from the Netherlands.

So Yeon said it was tough and she had tried to focus on one hole at a time;

” Yeah, that one is really tough one because before I started, teed off, I didn’t expect a really low score, then I just focus on each hole. Then I think the 4‑under on the front nine that, oh, maybe I can hit the low score like 8‑under, 9‑under, then I expect birdie birdie birdie and my body’s getting tight and my mind wasn’t there, so it’s really hard to finish great front nine and then turn on the back nine.”

Dewie Claire has fond memories of her first visit here, and her host family, and strangely Sushie;

“ Yeah, I stayed with them, I flew into Washington on Monday, drove down to Richmond and saw them, had a good time, just went to dinner and I stayed over.  They’re one of the best host families I’ve had. He’ll be out here watching tomorrow.  Last year they came out the whole weekend. They have unbelievable sushi there, it’s really fresh and the host just kind of splurges, he gets really good tuna.  I love sushi and it’s the best sushi I’ve had.”

There are fourteen players sitting on -3 under par, so it is a packed leaderboard, maybe tomorrow there will be some separation.

LPGA. LOTTE Championship. Petterson Pips Salas in Play-Off

Suzann Petterson pipped Lizette Salas in a play-off for the LPGA LOTTE Championship tile at the Ko Olina Golf Club in Hawaii.

Suzann Petterson / Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Suzann had a steady last round of -5 under par 67, to finish the tournament tied with Lizette, both of them at -19 under par, so they were taken back up the fairway to play number eighteen again in a sudden death play-off. Their tee shots on the first play-off hole were very similar, straight down the middle. Suzann was then first to hit her approach shot to the green, it landed just about twenty feet  to the left of the pin, a birdie chance.

After playing immaculately for 18 holes, shooting a -10 under par round of 62, Lizette then amazingly chunked her approach shot to the green, dumping it into the water that guards the left side of the green. It was really all over right then, she took the penalty drop and replayed the shot, executing a lovely approach to the right of the pin. But she was there for four, and then just missed her putt for a bogey five. That left Suzann two putts to win, which she duly took, to clinch her first win of the 2013 season. Suzann said she thought she would need a score of -20 to win;

“I thought 20 was going to do it, hat would take a fantastic round from anyone behind me, and it would take some good golf from me, but that was kind of the number I was shooting for. My game has been feeling great, it’s nice that I have kept the kind of the progress that I had from Kraft. I’ve kind of figured out how I play well, and I play well when I stay aggressive. I hate to play defensive and I hate to play away from the pins, and obviously at times you have to. That’s when the experience comes in. But for me to shy away and not step on the pedal, that’s not me. If I make an error being too aggressive, I can live with it. But if I make an error playing defensive trying to protect something, I mean, I wouldn’t shoot myself, but it’s hard for me to accept it.”

Suzann receiving Hula dancing instruction./ Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Lizette shrugged off her Chunk, and was pleased with her recovery after the disastrous 79 at the Kraft, and also getting used to using a short putter;

” Chunk is not bad, but if you have water it’s really bad, but I still had a chance, and that putt didn’t go in. Not everything is going to fall, but I played my butt off today. From shooting a 79 at Kraft to shooting a 62 here in Hawaii, just like that.  I can’t really describe the feeling, just I feel so proud of myself to put that 79 in the back of my mind and just to go out and play some golf. I took a big risk in using the short putter, but I felt extremely comfortable. I felt like me again.”

In third place was Ariya Jutanugarn, with her tournament score of -15 under par. Stacy Lewis who was hoping to win and regain the number one spot in the Rolex Ranking , along with World Amateur number one Lydia Ko both finished at -10 under par. A satisfying result for Lydia, but not so good for Stacy struggling with a -1 under par last round, compared to Lydia who finished with -6 under par 66. How Stacy would have loved to have had that score today.

LPGA. LOTTE Championship. 17 Year-Old Ayria Leads.

 

17 Year-old Ayria Jutanugarn leads the LPGA, LOTTE Championship at  Ko Olina Golf Club in Kapolei, Hawaii.

 

Ayria Jutanugarn / LPGA

Ayria shot an amazing -8 under par, 64, to lead the LPGA LOTTE Championship after the first round, by one shot. Tied in second place behind the Thailand teenager are Suzann Petterson and  Hee Kyung Seo, who are both at -7 under par after their opening rounds of 65.

Ayria said it is all about confidence;

” I have like really good front nine, but I just want to like make more birdies because my record is -8 under, so I want to be lower. When I have bogey on number ten I feel not very confident with my putting.  So when I have eagle on the fourteenth, it make me like more confidence.”

Suzann was concerned about the winds here;

” A bit unusual wind for here, I mean, it’s very playable.  The wind kind of changed a little bit on the back, on our front nine, which was the back nine, which actually makes the two par fives on the back reachable.”

Newly crowned number one in the Rolex Rankings, Inbee Park, had a modest first round of -2 under par, 70. Stacy Lewis, who was knocked off the top spot by Inbee, is happy that the rivalry between the players, creates a lot of interest in the Tour.

Stacy will go back to number one this week if she wins this title, she is currently at -5 under par;

” I think it’s good for the Tour when players are going back and forth and creating scenarios of if so‑and‑so wins they could be number one.  I like that, I don’t want to say it’s easier, but it’s fun now.  You’re checking what Yani is doing, you’re checking what Inbee is doing.  I think it’s a good thing for the Tour.”

The trio of teenagers playing together on the course, 15 year-old Lydia Ko, with two seventeen year-olds,  Ariya Jutanugarn and Hyo Joo Kim were collectively -16 under par. Ayria at -8, Hyo at -6, and Lydia at -2 under par.

Ayria really enjoyed playing with her teenage friends today;

” I feel like it’s very fun today because everybody are young and they so good, it’s very fun because we are friends.  I play with them before.”

Good Luck to the youngsters for tomorrow’s second round.

 

 

 

World Ladies Championship. Mission Hills. Suzann Petterson Wins

Suzann Petterson of Norway won the World Ladies Championship at Mission Hills, China.

Suzann Petterson / LET

 

Suzann fired a last round of -6 under par 66, to claim the title at Mission Hills, Sandbelt Trails Course with a tournament total of -18 under par. That magnificent last round was good enough to claim the title, which had seemed destined to go to Inbee Park.

A happy Suzann felt that she could have gone lower;

” I felt like there was a 64 out there today and I got off to a good start. My goal was to get it to 20 under par. I said if I get beat at 20, I can live with it. I know Inbee is in there and if she just gets one look at a putt, it’s in, so I had to bring my best and the putter was hot today. I’m very happy with how the game is and I’m just very happy to see the work that the China Golf Association does with the kids and how they grow the game. I’ve been really enjoying myself here and I feel comfortable. I like coming back and playing on the European Tour.”

Inbee could only post a last round score of -3 under par 69, and she lost out by just one shot, finishing on -17 under par. The fireworks started on the second hole with a two shot swing.  Inbee had a bogey while Suzann sunk her birdie putt, the two were now level. The pair of them battled it out between them, but Suzann eventually won through. These two players were well clear of the rest of the field. Inbee said she really wanted to win the singles;

 “ I don’t really worry about the team competition because we had a big lead for the last three days. I think we are pretty comfortable for the team event. So I just focus on the game as an individual today because I wanted to win this tournament. I didn’t play great today but Suzann played great so she did it. I am happy that we won as a team. It was a great experience.”

Third place went to Shan Shan Feng, the defending champion from last year, she completed the tournament at -11 under par.

Inbee had to settle for the Team win, with her partner Ha-Neul Kim, the South Korean pair won by five shots from the Norwegian team of Suzann Petterson and Marianne Skarpnord.

Inbee Park and Ha-Neul Kim with the Team Trophy / LET

 

Thailand, represented by Ariya Jutanugarn and Nontaya Srisawang were third, they were  followed by England in fourth place with the pairing of Trish Johnson and Laura Davies.

Leading amateur was Simin Feng of China, with a tournament score of +3 over par.

Simin Feng / LET

Honda LPGA Thailand, Inbee Park Wins

Inbee Park

Inbee Park won the Honda LPGA Thailand by one shot and a total of -12 under par, after local favorite Ariya Jutanugarn lipped out a three-foot putt on the last hole to  suffered a triple bogey, handing the title to Inbee.

Ariya lost concentration when in sight of the finishing line, putting  her second shot on the par five 18th into the front right bunker. She unfortunately had to take a drop and a one-stroke penalty for an unplayable lie. Then hit her fourth shot over the green and with a tricky downhill shot facing her, she left it short with the ball still on the fringe. Her putt, her sixth shot of the hole, slid by and she had about a 3-foot uphill putt left to make for double-bogey in order to force a playoff. The putt rimmed the hole and Ariya sadly tapped in for triple bogey eight which gave Inbee Park the one-shot victory.

Inbee thought she had missed her chance when she missed a birdie putt on the 17 th hole;

” On No. 17 when I missed that birdie putt I thought that this game might be over because she was at 14 under-par and it was a two-stroke lead coming into the last hole. I knew she was a long hitter so she had a chance to go ahead. So yeah I just didn’t expect this kind of finish. Out of all the other wins, this win just felt like it was not as much work this week. It was a lot easier this week for me. But I really want to congratulate Ariya for her fantastic golf the last four days. She has a lot of fans out here and she’s very talented. So I think I’ll be seeing more of her.”

Ariya said that making a hole in one on the par three 12th hole had made her feel full of confidence;

” It just made me feel confident because before that hole I wasn’t very confident. My driver and my irons were not very good. I think after 12 my driver feel OK and my irons like feel better. Just a bad hole on 18.”

World Number One Yani Tseng  tied the tournament record with a -9 under par 63 to finish in a tie for third at -10 under par. Yani is coming back into form, and thinks next week she will start the tournament a little better than her first round effort here;

“Hopefully next week I can start a little earlier and still finish strong, I feel like this is more like me. When I play my best I always finish strong on the weekend but last year at the end, on the weekend, I’m always struggling. But this is what I like to feel, to play aggressive and have fun and relax. Because today I go out there and I try to make birdie every hole.”

Tied in third place with Yani, were So Yeon Ryu, Beatriz Recari and Stacy Lewis, all on -10 under par. Lydia Ko, the World Amateur number one finished the tournament at -5 under par, tied in 14th place.

Honda LPGA Thailand, Rookie Ariya Has three Shot Lead Starting the Final Round

Ariya Jutanugarn

European Tour rookie Ariya Jutanugarn had a 2-under par third round 70 on Saturday and will now take a handsome three-shot lead  into the final round of the Honda LPGA Thailand 2013 at the Siam Country Club, Pattaya Old Course, Chonburi, Thailand.

Ariya has a tournament total of -11 under par, Stacy Lewis is one of those players at -8 under par, Stacy had a disappointing third round of 76, +4 over par. The other two players tied with Stacy are Beatriz Recari, who had an even par 72 round and Se Ri Pak joined them with her -1 under par, 71, third round.

Speaking after her round, Ariya said there was a lot of pressure playing in front of her home crowd;

” I did feel a lot of pressure early on, I felt the whole Thai people hope was on my back. After a few holes people starting to cheer me up, and that made all the pressure gone away. I should do better than a 2-under.”

Beatriz said she had taken a lot of positives from last year, and is hoping for a win this year;

” Last year I take a lot of positives with making every single cut and I played every tournament. That obviously gave me a lot of confidence because I was very consistent but I set up some high goals for this year. I finished tied fourth last week and I just want to be in contention more than I was last year and hopefully get some wins as well. I think it’s just going to be a matter of making putts and not making too many silly mistakes. I think today I just missed in the wrong spot and that cost me a few bogeys. Just got to learn from that and just tomorrow have to be a little bit smarter if the pins are as tough as today.”

 

 

Volvik RACV Ladies Masters, Its Wonderful Webb Again.

Karrie Webb / Scott Powick SMP Images

Wonderful Karrie Webb won the Volvik RACV Ladies Masters again, this is the eighth time Karrie has lifted this trophy, which equals Sam Snead’s record of winning the same event eight times. Sam won the Greater Greensboro Open eight times.

Karrie said the record was on her mind and it inspired her as she completed the tournament with a last round of -5 under par 67, and a two shot win at the Royal Pines golf course.

Karrie spoke about the win being a springboard for the LPGA season in America, and her round;

” I am very happy, it never gets old when you get a win, what a way to start the year! I’m very happy. The key to my round was that up and down on 10. I had a long bunker shot there, played a really good shot. If I didn’t get up and down there, there would have been no momentum going forward and I would have really struggled to keep up. I put a bit too much pressure on myself but I’m now able to dismiss negative thoughts or nervy thoughts pretty easily and just commit to the shot which is a very good feeling. I’ve had seven other times that I’ve won and I think some years it’s helped and some it hasn’t. I don’t want to raise my expectations too high, I think it tends to backfire on me a little bit.”

Talented teenagers, Australian amateur Su-Hyun Oh and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn were co-leaders heading into the last day’s play, they eventually had to settle for joint second along with Korean Chelle Choi.