Tres Marias Championship - Final Round

Ai Miyazato birdied four straight holes around the turn to take the lead and made an eight-foot putt to save par at the final hole and win the Tres Marias Championship.  It is the third win of the season and fourth of Miyazato's career, all of them coming in the last 10 months.  Stacy Lewis finished in second place, one shot behind at -18.  Michelle Wie finished third at -17 while In-Kyung Kim finished fourth at -14 and Na Yeon Choi was fifth at -13.  Lorena Ochoa finished in solo sixth at -12.

The fireworks started early and kept going off all day.  Miyazato began with a one-shot lead and immediately made it two with a birdie at 1.  Playing one group ahead, Lewis birdied 1 and 2 to draw within a shot at -13.  Wie birdied 2 to do the same.  The third member of the final group, Brittany Lincicome, initially treaded water with a bogey at 1 and a birdie at 2.  She started to fade with a three-putt bogey from 15 feet at 5 and then a bogey at 9 dropped her seven shots off the lead - Brittany ended up -10 tied for ninth.  Lewis birdied 6 to tie Miyazato for the lead at -14.  Wie saved par with a 25-footer at 5 and then birdied 6 to make it a three-way tie.  Stacy birdied 8 to take sole possession, Ai and Michelle responded with the same result and then Lewis birdied 9 to go back on top at -16.  Not so fast my friend - Wie holed-out at the par-4 9^th to leap-frog into the lead at -17.  Miyazato merely birdied 9 to join Lewis at -16.

It was down to a three-horse race as they made the turn - everyone else was at least five shots behind Wie.  Lewis made it three straight birdies at 10 to again tie for the lead.  Miyazato did the same but for the first time this week, Michelle did not play the reachable par-5 in less than par.  Her par created the third three-way tie in five holes.  At 11, Ai played her approach to four feet and dropped her fourth straight birdie to take the lead for herself.  Her streak snapped with a par at 12, Miyazato birdied 13 to go up by two.  At that same par-3, Wie just about destroyed her chances when her tee shot found a bunker and she needed two to get out.  She missed her bogey putt and was suddenly four shots back with five to go.  Since the 10^th Lewis had only registered pars so when Ai collected her sixth birdie in seven holes at 14, the lead was three with four to play.

I said the fireworks kept going off, didn't I?  Wie also birdied 14 and when she did it again at 15, she was back to -17 but still down by three.  At 15 Miyazato found a greenside bunker, blasted only to the fringe and two-putted for her first bogey since the same hole on Saturday.  The lead was two.  Ai made par at 16 while Michelle missed an eight-footer for birdie.  Lewis could only par 16 and 17.  17 brought another par for Miyazato and it seemed to be the same for Wie, except that she missed her par from two feet to fall three back going to 18.  It appeared to be about over.

Except Stacy Lewis rolled home a 15-footer to birdie the par-5 18^th and finish at -18.  Now Ai needed par to win.  She missed the fairway, punched out and played a long third to the fringe.  Beth Ann Baldry (who provided great details all afternoon via Twitter) estimated that Miyazato had to get down in two from 90 feet.  But first, Wie played her third shot and nearly holed-out for the second time today.  The eagle would have tied Lewis for second and gotten Michelle into a playoff should Miyazato not save par.  Ai chipped her fourth to about eight feet, dropped the par putt and dropped to her knees in relief.

It was an outstanding Sunday shootout with the three leaders all scoring well - Miyazato 67, Lewis 66, Wie 68.  They were so good that In-Kyung Kim, despite rallying to finish fourth, was never in true contention even with her round of 64.  While it was entertaining to follow via the Internet and certainly for those fans on-site, I'm sure it wasn't the storybook finish that most everybody in the gallery wanted.  Lorena Ochoa couldn't get going early and dropped shots at 5 and 8 before catching fire with four straight birdies.  If she couldn't win her final regular event, a Top 10 performance (something we've come to expect from Lorena so much that the alternative surprises us) is certainly fitting.

So now that Ochoa has stepped aside, who's the new sheriff in town?  Is it Miyazato, with her three wins in five 2010 starts?  Or is it Jiyai Shin, who wasn't in the Tres Marias field because she was busy winning the JLPGA event this weekend?  I'll discuss my choice in tomorrow's Epilogue.