Kia Classic - Final Round
by hound dog on Mar 27, 2011 6:16 PM PDT
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PrintSandra Gal birdied the final hole to win the Kia Classic, her first career LPGA victory. Jiyai Shin finished in second place at -15 while Cristie Kerr and In-Kyung Kim tied for third at -11.
Shin started the day ahead by one but quickly fell behind, bogeying 2 and 4 to hand Gal the early lead. Another bogey at 6 dropped Jiyai two back. Sandra plugged along, parring every hole on the par-38 front nine. This did allow Na Yeon Choi to make a run, playing the first six holes in -3 to tie Shin for second place. NYC went cold after that and blew up on the back nine, dropping four shots in five holes to finish T5. No one else could get as close, so the back nine was a match play shootout.
And what a shootout it was! Both players birdied 10 (Shin with a kick-in after a laser beam to a foot), leaving Gal at -15 and Shin -13. 12 looked like a two-shot swing when Sandra was forced to hack her way back into the fairway and Jiyai had 15 feet for birdie. Gal spun her third back to within two feet and saved par while Shin couldn't convert, so the margin remained two...until the very next hole. Gal missed right with her tee shot, chipped to five feet but pulled her par putt while Shin drained a six-footer for birdie. At 14, Sandra narrowly escaped again when she airmailed her approach to leave an extremely difficult downhill chip, which she managed to stop 15 feet past the hole. She drained the par putt, Jiyai missed left from eight feet and they were still tied.
At the par-3 15th, Shin rolled home a 20-footer to take the solo lead. Gal had 12 feet from the fringe but left it short. At 16, Sandra responded by dropping a 10-footer to retie at -15. Jiyai had six feet for birdie but let it slide right. Neither had a great chance at 17 - Shin missed from 18, Gal from about 30 - and they went to the par-5 18th to settle it. Both players found the fairway and layed up within a hundred yards. Shin played yet another great iron shot right over the flag, spinning it back to about five feet. Gal also flew over the hole and spun it back right past, stopping only two feet away. After backing off once, Jiyai's putt hit the right edge and lipped out. Sandra rolled hers straight in for the victory.
It's getting late so I'll save the rest for the Epilogue in the morning. For now - congratulations Sandra Gal!
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Shin often plays too conservatively on the par 5s
I’ve noted that for 2 years and it held up this week — no birdies on par 5s over the weekend, only 3 for the week, and one of only 5 players among 71 who made the cut to play over par on the easy 18th.
Shin needs a probability lesson. Par 5s are dominated by aggressive drives and second shots. That is verified on all levels of golf. I realize a precision player likes to play to her strengths but regardless what the announcers thrill to say about the advantages of full shots into greens as opposed to half swings or feel shots, the closer you dare the greater the reward once the sample size is high enough. Heck, Juli Inkster played #18 in -5 this week, the eagle on a pitch in when she wisely played tight to the green instead of a wimpy 100 yard strategic maneuver.
Sorry about the rant. Conventional wisdom bugs me when it’s flawed. Shin should have made the putt on #18 today — obvious flinch with the right hand — and she’s drained some clutch birdies on par 5s in big events, but with her current strategy she’ll always be disadvantaged against Tseng and similar. She’s gained enough distance to be more bold on the second shot.
Great win for Gal. I almost felt like she had greater opportunity to hang in there playing virtual match play against Shin than if Sandra had been trying to hold on for a 5th or 10th place finish several shots back. It was great to see a player finish an event after previous tendencies to steadily falter after the first round.
No Win for Shin
It’s unfortunate that you said you couldn’t see Shin not winning this tournament because what’s true of all golf professionals is they don’t quit, See Martin Laird at Bay Hill if you don’t believe me. If anyone was ever left for dead….
P.S. HounddogLPGA, Your warning about my having posted spam was in very poor taste. I welcome comments on my blog that contain links to peoples articles. It used to be known as web surfing. It’s one way to go from place to place in order to find new stuff.
???
I don’t know what “spam warning” you speak of. Whatever message you got, it did not come from me. If it came from SB Nation with my account name represented in any way, I apologize on their behalf. I would never knowingly refuse a link.
Also, I never said anything about Gal not having the fortitude (or even the skill) to win. Shin’s past history speaks for itself.
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