Lorena Ochoa Invitational - Final Round
by hound dog on Nov 15, 2010 4:28 AM PST
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PrintIn-Kyung Kim took the lead midway through the front nine and went on to win the Lorena Ochoa Invitational by three shots. It is her first victory of 2010 and the third of her four-year LPGA career. Suzann Pettersen finished second at -16, Karine Icher was third at -15 while Cristie Kerr and Paula Creamer finished tied for fourth at -14.
Matched up in the final group with Pettersen leading by a shot, Kim kept pace when both birdied at 1 and 3. Inky took the lead when Suzann found the water with her approach at 4 - the double-bogey dropped Pettersen to -12 and into a tie with Creamer. At 6, Kim rolled in a 25-footer to open up a two-shot cushion. Icher, also playing in the final group, finally joined the party (and the tie for second) with a birdie at 7 but Inky did as well to take a three-shot lead. When Kim dropped an eight-footer for birdie at 8, what had started out as a Free-For-All had suddenly become a runaway.
In succession, Creamer, Icher and Pettersen all birdied 9 to reach -13 but Inky converted from five feet to go -17 and make the turn in 30. Suzann had 18 feet for eagle at 10 but had to settle for just moving into solo second. At 11, Pettersen pulled her wedge approach left (the shout of "dammit" echoed across the course), resulting in only a par while Kim drained a 25-footer to increase her lead to four with only seven holes to play. Suzann made it interesting when she birdied 13 and 14 to get back within two but Inky slammed the door again with a birdie at 15. Kim took only her third bogey of the week at 17 to make 18 less than academic (up two going to the last is never a sure thing) but she birdied the final hole to seal the deal.
A few other players were actually in the thick of things until Kim took charge. I'll save the details on them for the Epilogue which (I hope) will be done later today. Most of the media like to refer to the champion as I.K. (and she's said she likes that nickname) but I'll just keep on saying "Congratulations Inky!!"
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The POY race is even more exciting than last year
At the risk of pre-empting your Epilogue(!), with only 18 points splitting the top 5 it’s going to be an ever-changing all-out fight at the Tour Championship. Miyazato, Choi and Kerr will definitely win the Award if they win the tournament (as will Tseng, obviously), while Jiyai could win the Award by finishing first, but is then reliant on Tseng finishing worse than second (if Tseng is the runner-up to Jiyai, I makie it a tie between them on 200 points. HD, do you know what happens then? Or is it one of those LPGA loopholes?).
But with the exception of Miyazato (who could theoretically win by finishing second, or even third, depending on the rules if there’s a tie and other people’s results) and Tseng, a win is what’s needed in a few weeks’ time.
On a side note, has anyone ever had so many top 2 finishes with no wins as Suzann this year?
A quick check of players since 1970
shows 4 players with 4 seconds and no wins. Beth Daniel had 5 seconds and 2 thirds in 1992 and Pat Bradley had 5 seconds and 2 thirds in 1984. But the most frustrating season must be Pat Bradley with 5 seconds and 6 thirds and no wins in 1979.
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