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 North Texas Shoot-Out. Park Prevails.

Inbee Park prevailed over the competition to win the LPGA North Texas Shoot-Out at the Las Colinas Country Club.

Inbee Park / LPGA

Inbee sank a four foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to fire in a 4-under par round of 67, for her total score of  -13 under par. In doing so she defeated Spaniard Carlota Ciganda by one stroke. Carlota finished at -12 under par.

Inbee spoke about coming from two shots back at the start of play, to win;

” Today coming into the final round, I was two shots back, and I didn’t really think about winning so much. The front nine I was given a lot of birdie chances out there, and nothing seemed to be going in, so I was a little bit frustrated. But on the other hand, Carlota was putting really good and she was playing really almost perfect.  She wasn’t making any mistakes until number fourteen, and she played very good today, except for a couple of holes.  And until Number thirteen I thought I wouldn’t have a chance because Carlota was really playing solid. So yeah, I was just trying to be really patient out there, and finally a couple dropped for me at the end. It’s always good to see my name on the top of the leaderboard almost every week, I mean not every week, but close to every week.  Yeah, it always feels good, my game is;  it’s really good to see my game is improving every week, every year, and just trying to take it step by step.”

Carlota had a few problems with the wind, her big down-fall was number fifteen, when she hit into the water. It cost her a double bogey.

” I saw the ball bouncing on the green, so I thought that maybe it was there long. But when I was approaching the green, I could see that the wind was hard and the ball was in the water. So I mean I just tried to make up on that, and I missed my putt, so then it was a 6, and that was it.  I think that was the key hole because until that time I think I was winning by two and then by one. I was trying to play my game, just trying to stay in the present all the time, and I was telling my caddy just focus on our game, just go shot by shot and just don’t think about the other, don’t think about Inbee or other players because you can’t really control what they are doing. I was just trying to focus on my game, and it showed and I think we did really good. I mean it’s always nice to win, but I think when you finish second or even worse, I think you learn more from it, so I think it’s a great experience, and I’m happy with my week.”

Third place went to last weeks winner Suzann Petterson, she rounded off her tournament with a last round of -5 under par, 66 for her total score of -10 under par.

Suzann liked this course;

” It’s a great track, I mean it just plays a lot different than what I expected it to.  It plays like a links course, the fairways, hard and bouncy. Early on this week I didn’t feel that great with my game to be honest, just coming off Hawaii, being in windy conditions, your kind of fundamentals and the swing changes a little bit, so it was a lot of work early on, and I got better.  I finally figured out the speed of the greens on the weekend.”

Stacy Lewis recovered from her poor start to this tournament, shooting a final round -5 under par 66, to finish tied in 7th place.

Stacy spoke about the support she got from the Texas crowd;

” We have so many good players from Texas and just look at the crowds this week, I signed autographs for people probably four or five deep for 100 yards. It’s hard, I have to get my game back on track and certainly today I hit it a lot better. I have to get my head right and not worry about the No. 1 ranking.”

LPGA. North Texas Shoot-out. Carlota is the Cream of the Crop.

Carlota Ciganda had one of the best rounds of the day during the third round of the LPGA North Texas Shoot-Out at the Las Colinas Country Club, shooting a -5 under par round, to give her a tournament total of -11 under par and top spot on the leaderboard.

Carlota Ciganda / LPGA

Tied in second place are Inbee Park and Caroline Masson, they are both at -9 under par, with a third round effort of -4 under par for Inbee and -2 for Caroline.

Fourth place is occupied by Na Yeon Choi, she had a third round of -5 under par to elevate her up the leaderboard with a total of -8 under par.

Stacy Lewis has had a quiet tournament, currently residing in tied 26th place, but still made the final cut which was made at +1 over par, the top fifty players went through to the final round. Still time for Stacy to improve her position, but not time enough to consider vying for the top of the leaderboard.

LPGA. North Texas Shoot-Out. Caroline Cruising.

Caroline Masson is cruising in the LPGA North Texas Shoot-Out, with a second round of even par 71, but it was good enough to keep her at the top of the leaderboard, courtesy of  her first round 64.

 

Caroline Masson / Tom Pennington / Getty Images

Caroline unfortunately let a very good lead slip by making bogey on three of her final four holes at the end of her second round. She finished with even par round, but luckily still leads the tournament by one shot, at -7 under par. Caroline said she not unhappy with the way things turned out, and looking forward to the week-end;

” I didn’t play as good as yesterday, but I expected that after that round yesterday. So I was off to a good start with a birdie on one, which was really nice.  And it calmed me down a little bit, and after that I just made a few good pars, but I also made some good putts for birdie. The last few; yeah, that was just some bad shots on the last few holes, but still I think, yeah a round of level par is never bad, you know.  And especially in that situation.  So I’m just looking forward to the weekend. I’m pretty happy it’s over now, I can just relax now and tomorrow I think I’ll be fine again.”

 Carlota Ciganda is just one shot off the lead, with a steady second round of -1 under par 71, and is now at -6 under par for the tournament. Carlota is a great traveler, next week she will return to Spain and will then play in LET events in Turkey, Holland and Germany. But she does like the States;

” I really like the U.S. it’s a great country.  I studied here, and I mean I love it here because everything is easy.  I mean the courses we play, they are great and the people are very, very nice. I just take my weeks off in Arizona, which it was really nice to go back there and see my friends. And Europe, it’s nice, too, because I am closer from home and I can go home in the weeks off.  But I love it here and I think the future is to be here.  So I’ll be playing in the U. S. and Europe this year, and then next year I’ll try to go more here.”

Tied in third place at -5 under par are Moriya Jutanugarn, Kathleen Ekey and Inbee Park, this tournament is shaping up to be really close, I look forward to the joust. Tomorrow there may be a clearer picture of who is likely to contest for the title.

 

 

North Texas LPGA Open. 1st Round.

Caroline Masson / Getty Images

Caroline Masson leads the North Texas LPGA Open with a career best score of -7 under par 64, to capture the lead at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Texas.

Caroline said she was bothered by the traditional Texas wind during her round;

“For some reason I feel like I’m playing pretty good in the wind. My win on the LET in South Africa was also in like really, really windy conditions.  And yeah, I’m hitting it well, so I think the wind doesn’t affect my ball too much, and that will definitely help me throughout the week. But it’s just also important to just make some putts on these greens because without putting well, I think you have no chance to shoot a really good round here.  So it’s just all coming together really.”

Coming up behind Caroline are three players at -4 under par, starting with current Rolex Rankings No. 1 Inbee Park, then Mo Martin and 2009 U.S. Solheim Cup Team member Kristy McPherson, all had rounds of  67 . Inbee said she was very happy with fast greens here;

” It was quite different with the speed because it’s such a difference from last week but I’m very glad that I’m playing the fast greens. I love fast greens, rolling greens. Last week was a very big challenge for me with slow and grainy greens which I struggle, but I was able to play better last week. So this is tough to adjust, but I love the greens here.”

There will be a cut here, so the top 70 and ties following Friday’s second round will go forward. As part of the “Shootout” format, there will also be a another cut on Saturday which will reduce the field to the top 50 players and ties.

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.

 

 

 

LPGA. Kraft Nabisco Championship. Park Prevails By Three Shots.

Inbee Park prevailed by four shots at the  LPGA, Kraft Nabisco Championship and took the traditional winners plunge into  Poppie’s Pond at the 18th green.

Inbee Park / LPGA

Inbee Park’s four shot win at the Kraft Nabisco Championship has catapulted her to number two in the Rolex World Rankings, just behind Stacy Lewis. Her last round of -3 under par gave her a tournament total of -15 under par. Inbee really wants the number one spot in the rankings;

” That’s the place that I’ve always wanted and I only have one more spot to go. That brings a lot of momentum, keeps momentum going for me, especially after this week. I felt a lot of confidence with my swing and with my putting. Everything has been going the right way this season. It feels good.”

Of the pond plunge at Mission Hills, Inbee said;

 ”It was great, that‘s the pond I’ve always wanted to jump in, and I finally jumped. It was a little bit chilly, though.”

So Yeon Ryu finished in second place at -11 under par, and when asked about her performance, trying to chase down her friend, Inbee, she said;

“Well, it’s hard to say, but I really wanted to finish strong, so I was just expecting to finish top five. I couldn’t expect winning because I know how Inbee is playing really consistently and I know how her putting was great, so I couldn’t expect winning, but I really wanted to finish top five, but I finished second, so I made it. Actually first of all, she really likes to gamble, so when I practice with her she always calls me to gamble like ten bucks a hole, whatever. But she always makes the hardest par putts, like eight‑foot par putts, 16‑foot par putts.  I can’t win like ten bucks.  She always wins like 50 bucks.  She always takes my money, so she always buys me dinner, lunch, whatever. Anyway, the important thing is she looks so easy, and putting is so easy.  Sometimes my putting was really great when I was playing with her, but not enough. I think her tempo is really great, her tempo is always consistent.  And what else?  Oh, and she taught me that when she was putting, the weight is a bit on the left side.  She looks like 70 and 30, and she says, before her weight was like 50/50, but now she changed it, and her weight has moved a bit more to the left side.  She said that’s really helped her putting.”

Tied in third place at -9 under par were Caroline Hedwall and Suzann Petterson. World Amateur number one Lydia Ko finished a disappointing -2 under par and tied in 25th place.

 

LPGA. Kraft Nabisco Championship. Inbee In Charge

Inbee Park is in charge of the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills in California, scorching round the Dinah Shore Tournament Course in -5 under par 67. She now leads the Championship by 3 strokes, with her total of -12 under par, at the conclusion of the third round.

Inbee Park / LPGA Tour

After her marvelous round Inbee was asked if she felt she needed to win another Major to validate her position in Women’s golf;

” Of course, I only have won one major in my seven-year career, and after the U.S. Open, I haven’t won for a while. I had a good year last year, but I definitely need to show a little more good play and maybe a couple more majors would be nice. I mean, this kind of golf course, anything can happen. So no, I can’t really say that only one player is trying to catch me. I think everybody within maybe six, seven shots of the lead is still in the mix. My putter was really good today, but I don’t think I’m the best putter on the earth. There’s a lot of good putters out here, but I think I’m one of them.”

Trying to chase down Inbee is Lizette Salas, a -3 under par 69 round today to give her a total of -9 under par. Lizette does not think it is all done and dusted;

” No, not in my professional career, maybe in college I came back to win a golf tournament, and so this is all a learning experience for me, and I’m just trying to have fun with it.  You know, if I just keep it simple and just stick to my game plan and just really believe that I can pull it off and I have so many people around me that believe in it, I just have to believe it myself, so we’ll just see. I just say keep cheering me on, and that’s what keeps the adrenaline going and keeps the momentum up for me.  You know, I feed off the crowd, and to have my fans out here, my family here, it just helps me stay calm.  I said yesterday other players would feel more pressure if they had more fans out.  To me that’s the opposite.  I welcome more cheers.  I heard lots of “fight ons” today and lots of lilies, and that’s very heartwarming.  I’m playing in my backyard, so I can’t ask for anything more than that. I can’t sleep very well when I’m in a position like I am today.  I just tend to think of a lot of what‑ifs, so tonight I’m just going to tell my mind to shut up and to let me sleep.”

There are six ladies jockeying for the minor placings behind Inbee and Lizette, but as they are way back on -6 under par, one of them would need to shoot a magical round to even come close. I think Inbee has her destiny in under control.

 

 

LPGA. Kraft Nabisco Championship. Inbee Park Leads

Inbee Park / Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

 

Inbee Park had a second round of -5 under par 67 which propelled her into the lead at -7 under par in the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills in California.

After her second round Inbee Tweeted;

“I just like to stay a little quiet and just do my own thing. If I win a little more I think I’ll get more attention.”

She has never been a feature on the week-end at this tournament, so this is new territory for her;

” I never had a good two days, this is something new on this golf course for me, and I don’t know. It’s good. I think it’s good to be ahead because you’re in better position than anybody else. Obviously putted really good out there, especially on the back nine. The wind picked up, so it was tough on the back nine.”

The lead is just one shot as American Lizette Salas kept in touch with a second round -2 under par for her total of -6 under par for the tournament. Lizette said she not a long hitter, so makes up for it with good wedges;

” I’m comfortable in my short game and I’m not a long hitter, so I have to make it up some way. I’ve been working hard and dialing in with my wedge because that’s your go-to club. I try to make it easy as I can, I started off with a birdie and then had my first three-putt, my only bogey of the day. That made me a little frustrated, missed a couple of birdie putts on the front, but turned it around on the back and started rolling them in.”

Caroline Hedwall, one of Europe’s finest young stars, is tied for third place with Giulia Sergas. Caroline, a five-time winner on the LET,  but has yet to do anything noteworthy in a Major.

Lydia Ko, the 15-year-old Kiwi World Amateur number one,  who already has three professional titles to her name, shot  a second round 74 and is +2 over par for the tournament.

 

 

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