Safeway Classic - Final Round

Ai Miyazato outlasted most of the other members of the World's Top 10 to win the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola by two strokes.  It is her fifth victory of the year and the sixth of her LPGA career.  Cristie Kerr and Na Yeon Choi finished tied for second at -9 while Suzann Pettersen and Song-Hee Kim tied for fourth at -8.

As the final groups got underway, Miyazato's lead briefly reached four shots as both Choi and Kim bogeyed the opening hole.  Ai wasn't able to maintain it as she missed a rather short par putt at 2 and couldn't get up-and-down from a greenside bunker at 7, which dropped her to -9.  Meanwhile Jiyai Shin had birdied 5, Pettersen birdied 4, 6 and 8, Song-Hee birdied 7 and Kerr birdied 8 to all reach -8, while Choi and In-Kyung Kim were lurking at -7.  Seven Top 10 players were within two shots of the lead on Sunday with more than nine holes to play - that would qualify as a Free-For-All, I would say.  It got even tighter - Pettersen dropped a shot at 9 but Choi birdied 8 and Inky birdied 9 to leave five players one behind Miyazato.  Kerr played a nice chip at the par-5 9^th and tapped in the birdie to tie Ai for the lead.  The cushion that was four shots was now gone.

Miyazato finally got going at 9, rolling home a 12-footer for birdie to retake the lead.  Playing partner Song-Hee also dropped one from five feet to remain within one.  Ahead at 11, Shin roped her tee shot to four feet and made the putt to join Kim and Kerr at -9.  Cristie connected from eight feet at 10 go -10 and again tie for the lead.  Choi's four-footer at 10 brought her to -9 and gave us five players within one shot.  As she took her turn at the par-5 10^th, Miyazato answered the challenge.  She reached a greenside bunker with her second, played her third to five feet and sank the putt to return to -11 and the solo lead.  Not to be outdone, Kim executed a great chip to two feet and tapped in to stay one back.  Kerr stumbled at 11 by missing badly on a five-footer for par, falling two behind.  The final twosome played a wild 11^th - Kim missed the green so far right she avoided the creek while Miyazato played hers to six feet.  From about 20 yards, Song-Hee's pitch curled right into the hole to tie her for the lead.  Shaken (?), Ai missed her birdie putt.  From my vantage point, it felt like a multi-shot swing.

In case you've gotten lost, at this moment Miyazato and Kim were tied at -11 while Kerr, Shin and Choi were at -9.  In-Kyung Kim was -8 but she was out of bullets - a bogey at 18 left her T6 -7.  Shin made a mess of #12 and missed a four-footer for bogey - the double took the wind out of her sails as she parred out to finish T6 as well.  Pettersen bogeyed 14 to fall out of contention but she rallied to birdie the last two and finish -8.  Now, as for the other four....Choi took bogey at 12 and missed a five-footer for par at 13 to fall to -7 and out of contention (it seemed).  Kerr elected to putt from off the green at 12 and from 35 feet drained it to draw within one.  At 13, Kim three-putted from 30 feet to fall out of the lead tie.  Kerr burned the left edge from 20 feet at 14.  Kim found a greenside bunker at 14, blasted poorly to 12 feet and missed the par putt to fall two back.  Choi started her comeback by canning a five-footer at 15 but still trailed by three.  Miyazato's 30-footer at the same hole stopped one turn short.  At 16, Kim found another bunker and another bogey - her third in four holes.  It appeared to be between Ai and Cristie now.

17 is the short par-4 risk-reward hole.  Today they were playing it at 230 yards so everybody could reach it, making for a long wait at the tee box.  When she finally got to hit, Kerr yanked it way left.  From a good lie but a tough downhill stance, she curled her chip to about 12 feet but missed the birdie attempt.  Choi nearly chipped her second in but settled for a birdie which left her only down two.  Miyazato chipped to about six feet but couldn't drop the putt which would have put her two up on Kerr.  Cristie had 135 yards to the pin at 18 but came up short and right, the ball taking one bounce into the water.  Suddenly it was over...not quite.  Though Kerr wound up taking bogey to finish -9, Choi had a 25-footer which would have forced Miyazato to par.  NYC missed, however, meaning Ai could bogey and still win.  She didn't need the extra cushion, two-putting from 12 feet.

Whew!  It's not often I get to document a final round where any one of over a half-dozen upper-echelon players could have taken the prize, so I apologize if this recap had your head spinning.  It was everything we could have asked for, complete with great shots and a killer mistake at the end.  Thank God we didn't have another rule violation DQ to steal the headline away, that would have been too much final-round drama!  Congrats to Ai on her victory and return to Rolex #1!