HSBC Women's Champions - Final Round

Riding a four-hole birdie streak, Karrie Webb took the lead at 14 and held on to win the HSBC Women's Champions.  It is the 37^th career victory for the Hall of Famer but only her second since 2006.  JLPGA star Chie Arimura finished in second place, one shot behind at -12 while World Number One Yani Tseng finished third at -10.

The final round began with Arimura holding a one-shot lead over Webb but no one else closer than six.  Chie had been the overnight leader since Thursday and led by three shots late Saturday until her putter started balking.  The front twosome drew Tseng as their third playing partner for Sunday, which set up a dandy head-to-head-to-head battle.  Webb opened with bogey to fall two back.  Tseng birdied 2 to reach -6.  Arimura bogeyed 5 to drop to -10 while Tseng birdied it to go -7.  Yani birdied 6 and 7 to tie Karrie for second and suddenly find herself one shot out of the lead.  All three parred 8 and birdied the par-5 9^th to make the turn with the standings unchanged.

10 brought a double two-shot swing for Arimura, as she birdied while both Webb and Tseng bogeyed.  Chie's lead was now three with eight holes to play.  That windfall was nearly wiped out on the next hole when Arimura bogeyed and Webb birdied, drawing Karrie back within one and leaving Yani two back.  At 12 Webb birdied again, tying for the lead at -11 while Tseng bogeyed to fall three back.  Like they did at 9, all three birdied the par-5 13^th.  At 14, Chie bogeyed while Karrie birdied (her fourth straight and our third two-shot swing in five holes).  Suddenly Webb led by two with only four to play.  She stumbled immediately with a bogey six at 15 but neither of her competitors took full advantage as both only managed par.  The lead was one with Tseng three back.  All three birdied the par-4 16^th and parred the last two, leaving Webb as the winner by one.

I'm sure that last sentence is a pale representation of how those final three holes actually played out but that's all the info I have as of now.  Most likely the drama continued on down to the wire - the coverage this afternoon at 2pm EST on Golf Channel should confirm that for us.  As near as I can tell, nobody outside the final group ever got as close as three shots from the lead although Sun Young Yoo and Morgan Pressel played well and finished in the Top 5.  You don't always have to have a dozen players in the hunt to have a great finish, and today's Great Finish went to Karrie Webb - congratulations! 

POST TV NOTES:

There was some drama over those last three holes.  At the short par-4 16^th, Arimura sank a 14-footer for birdie to remain one back.  Webb nearly holed her chip and sank a four-footer.  At 17 Chie had 20 feet to tie, ran it five feet past and holed from there to stay close.  The wind was blowing pretty good as they played 18.  Both players had about 25 feet for birdie.  Webb burned the left edge as her putt stopped about a foot away.  Looking to force a playoff, Arimura putted from the back fringe but came up four feet short.

The two-shot swing at 14 came when Arimura couldn't get up-and-down from over the green while Webb sank an eight-footer for birdie.  Tseng's last real gasp came at 15 when she missed a birdie attempt from eight feet.  Her birdie at 16 was cancelled out when her partners matched it and she didn't have makeable chances at the final two.  Sun Young Yoo got to within three shots of the lead after a birdie at 14 but she played the last four in +1 to finish solo fourth.