Mizuno Classic - Epilogue

Momoko Ueda's first victory at the 2007 Mizuno Classic (has it really been four years?) gave her the opportunity to play full-time on the LPGA Tour.  She hasn't yet been an upper-echelon player (before this weekend, only seven Top 10 finishes in 69 starts since the beginning of 2008) though she reached #14 in my March 2008 rankings and #23 in April 2010.  2011 had not been kind as Momoko's best finish had been T18 in Thailand and she had only five Top 40 finishes in 15 starts coming into Mizuno.  Does this win signify a turnaround?  She'll need to follow this up with another Top 10 or two for me to answer "yes".

Ueda started the final round with a three-shot lead over Sakura Yokomine.  By the end of the front nine, her lead had dwindled to one over Yokomine and Shanshan Feng.  Na Yeon Choi was on fire (-7 on the day, -14 overall through 14) and joined the pursuit.  Momoko birdied 10 to reach -15.  Choi took a critical bogey at 15 but birdied the last two to take the clubhouse lead at -15.  Feng birdied 12 and 13 to tie for the lead.  Yokomine birdied 13 to pull within one.  At 16, Ueda birdied to take a one-shot lead over Feng and Choi.  Feng birdied 17 to tie again at -16.  Yokomine bogeyed the final two holes to finish tied for sixth.  Feng and Ueda parred out to go to a playoff.  Momoko had five feet to win on the first hole but missed on the left edge.  Neither player had a reasonable chance on the second hole but on the third attempt (all at 18), Ueda drained a 15-footer for birdie and the victory.

It was another low-scoring affair typical of Mizuno's past history.  The average of 70.46 was the lowest for this event since the 2005 edition and the lowest of 2011 by more than one stroke (State Farm 71.47).  Only one player on Friday shot worse than 74 (think about that for a minute) and just eight of the 78 players finished over par.

The JLPGA contingent got off to a great start this week with two players sharing the lead after Round One and seven others starting in the Top 20.  By Sunday afternoon, only Yokomine and Esther Lee managed to make the Top 10 as the relatively thin LPGA group rose up to claim the entire Top 5. Teresa Lu shared fourth place with Catriona Matthew, grabbing her best finish of 2011 by far.  In only two starts this year, Teresa had yet to make the cut.  This was her best finish since a tie for third at the 2008 Ginn Open and her first Top 10 since tying for eighth at last year's Safeway.  Normally that would be plenty good enough to win the Big Surprise Award but I have to select Ueda for that honor.

The Big Disappointment is unfortunately an easy choice.  Ai Miyazato failed to break par any of the three days and finished 77^th in a 78-player field.