Evian Masters - Final Round

Jiyai Shin birdied the 72nd hole to win the Evian Masters.  It is her first victory of 2010 and the seventh of her young career.  Na Yeon Choi, Morgan Pressel and 15-year-old Lexi Thompson finished tied for second, only one shot behind while Suzann Pettersen finished in fifth place.

Judging by the progression of the leaderboard, it was a thrilling finish with a very real chance of a four-way playoff so I'll delay my recap until after the TV coverage.  Need to have all the details on this one!

UPDATE:  Get comfortable - this recap is a lengthy one.  Pressel began the day up by two thanks to an eagle at 18 on Saturday.  She started with four pars, which allowed her competitors to close in.  Thompson birdied three times over the first seven holes to tie for the lead at -11.  Morgan's partner in the final group, Shin birdied 4 and 5 to reach -11.  Pressel immediately responded by holing out for eagle at the par-4 5^th to restore her two-shot lead.  7 presented an opportunity for a two-shot swing when Jiyai had 10 feet for par while Morgan had only six for birdie.  Shin dropped her putt but Pressel didn't and the margin remained two.  Thompson's two-putt birdie at 9 drew her within one.  Jiyai birdied 8 to get within one. Lexi found the trees right off of the 10^th tee and took bogey to fall two back.  Morgan got up-and-down from a bunker to birdie 9 but she gave the shot back at 10 when she missed the green left and chipped 18 feet past the hole.  Meanwhile, Song-Hee Kim had reached -11 with birdies at 11 and 12, Suzann Pettersen was -11 thanks to going out in 31 and Jeong Jang was -10 after chipping in at 10.  It was becoming a Free-For-All, all right...

Kim faded quickly with bogeys at 13 and 14.  Jang bogeyed three times in a four-hole stretch to drop out.  Pettersen kept giving herself medium-range chances but couldn't make any of them until she dropped a 10-footer at 16 to draw within one.  Though she missed the fairway at 18 to eliminate any eagle chance, Suzann still had 15 feet for a birdie to go -13.  She lipped it out to finish -12, which you knew wasn't going to be good enough.  Flashing back about a half-hour, Thompson barely missed a 15-footer at 11 and missed the fairway at 12 but she drilled her approach to eight feet and made birdie to go -12 and get back within one.  Lexi executed a great chip at 13 to salvage par.  Back in the final group, Shin and Pressel each had less than 15 feet at 11 but neither could cash in.  At 12, Shin missed for birdie from 20 feet and Pressel saved par from seven.  They both had 12 feet for birdie at 13 but only Jiyai was able to can hers, and they were now tied at -13 with Thompson and Pettersen only one back.

There was one other player who figured into this finish - Na Yeon Choi.  Through 13 holes NYC was -9, down by five shots and being ignored by the Canal Plus/Golf Channel cameras.  Birdie at 14, birdie at 15, birdie at 16 and yes, birdie at 17 (only the last one got TV attention) quickly moved Na Yeon into a tie for the lead.  She had a chance to take the solo lead to the clubhouse but when she missed the green way left with her second, Choi only parred 18 to finish -13.  The final twosome racked up pars at 14 and 15 (both were within 20 feet at 15 but missed).  Thompson took a devastating bogey (in hindsight) at 16 when she missed the green, chipped to 12 feet and missed.  She was now two behind with two to go.  Lexi didn't quit though - she dropped a five-footer for birdie at 17 and a 15-footer for birdie at 18 to join Choi in the house at -13.  The only question was - would that be good enough for a playoff?

At 16, Pressel had 10 feet for birdie but missed left.  Shin had only six feet - her ball did a 360 and stayed out.  At the World's Shortest Professional Golf Hole, Shin spun her tee shot off the front edge while Pressel landed hers about 10 feet from the pin.  Morgan missed badly to the left, Jiyai dropped a six-footer for par and they went to the par-5 18^th.  Shin found the fairway but Pressel pulled her tee shot into the left rough.  Both players layed up into perfect position.  From about 80 yards with the pin in the back, Morgan played a fine shot to six feet.  Jiyai was only slightly closer - her third landed in the back fringe but spun back to about eight feet.  Shin rolled hers home to reach -14.  Pressel's downhill putt lipped the left edge.

You can't get much more exciting than that.  Congratulations to Lexi Thompson for coming oh-so-close to making LPGA history (I'll discuss that more in the Epilogue) and to Na Yeon Choi for nearly coming out of nowhere to steal this title.  Condolences to Morgan Pressel - the putter let her down more than once today.  But the big congratulations go to Jiyai Shin for this victory and the fact that she re-takes the Rolex #1 ranking (she didn't realize that until Tom Abbott told her in the post-round interview).  The Final-Round Queen was certainly that today!