SBS Open - Epilogue
Angela Stanford has not only won three times in seven starts dating back to the Bell Micro in September. She hasn't finished worse than sixth in any of those seven events and six times she's finished in the top four. That's a hot streak, folks - not quite on the order of Ochoa's four straight wins early last year but in the neighborhood.
Some people will see yesterday's result and probably make a big deal out of Michelle Wie's "collapse". Yes, she double-bogeyed the 11th after her tee shot sailed into the hazard, losing two shots of her three-stroke lead. Keep in mind she was driving there with a 3-wood - the smart play - and just made a bad swing. It happens. Any time a player rolls off three straight birdies on the final round back nine to progressively tie for the lead, take the lead, and then open up a two-shot lead, you need to give them credit for coming through and that's exactly what Stanford did. Wie will have other chances to win I'm sure, but she didn't choke this one away.
The average score at Turtle Bay this week was 74.76, the highest in the five-year history of the event. The inaugural SBS Open in 2005 averaged 74.059, almost three-quarters of a stroke less than what we saw over the last three days. The windy conditions on Friday were probably even worse than those in the final round of the 2007 Ginn Open, which had an off-shore tropical storm to blame for its 40-mph winds.
I haven't read Mostly Harmless yet today but I'm sure The Constructivist will have plenty of words on Ai Miyazato's Top 10 finish. Unfortunately for TC, Ai isn't this week Big Surprise. I'm going to split the award between KLPGA regular and SBS sponsor's exemption Hee Kyung Seo and Taylor Leon. They both finished T10, the first career LPGA Top 10 for each. CORRECTION: Seo finished T15, so no Top 10 but she shares the Big Surprise anyway. Honorable mention goes to Sarah Lee, whose T7 finish was her first Top 10 since the 2007 ADT Championship. Welcome back, Sarah!
The Big Disappointment is definitely Ji-Yai Shin, and not just because I picked her to win this week. After opening with a 72, Shin suffered an 81 in Friday's whirlwinds and missed the cut by three shots. In my rookie preview I said that in the off-chance that Ji-Yai somehow plays poorly enough to not win Rookie of the Year, Michelle Wie will be the most likely player to step up and take that award. I hardly expected to see that scenario start playing out quite this soon.
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no probs
I don’t think Ai-chan’s finish was that big of a surprise, myself. She made 19 birdies in Australia the week before and made a good number this week, too. Hopefully she’ll start cutting down on those bogeys in upcoming weeks.
Speaking of which, it’s painful to wait for Thailand, isn’t it?
by The Constructivist on Feb 15, 2009 1:54 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
Did Angela Stanford win? I was watching The Golf Channel. I thought Michelle Wie won.
by rubdown on Feb 16, 2009 4:04 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

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