CN Canadian Women's Open - Epilogue

Brittany Lincicome's second win of 2011 was her fifth in seven years on the LPGA Tour.  Since the beginning of her rookie season in 2005, the only active players who have won more often than Brittany are Cristie Kerr (10), Paula Creamer (9), Yani Tseng (9), Suzann Pettersen (8), Jiyai Shin (8) and Ai Miyazato (7).  Pretty impressive list there.  Career-wise, Lincicome hasn't quite reached the level of those players but she has always been just a tick or two behind them.

Brittany started Sunday one shot behind the final group trio of Miyazato, Michelle Wie and rookie Tiffany Joh.  An opening hole birdie moved her to -12 which ended up in a share of the lead when Miyazato and Wie cancelled first hole birdies with bogeys at 3.  Moments after Angela Stanford created a five-way tie for first by birdying 5, Lincicome also birdied 5 to take the solo lead.  At this point, eleven players were within three shots and the Free-For-All seemed to be on.  Brittany birdied 7 to open up a two-shot margin at -14.  Miyazato became the first contender to crash when she doubled 6, dropping to -10 from where she never recovered.  Joh started to crumble - bogey at 4, birdie at 5, bogeys at 8 and 11 to fall to -10.  Stanford took back-to-back bogeys to end the front nine at -10.  When Wie bogeyed 9 to fall three back at -11, there was suddenly only one player as close as two shots.

Stacy Lewis had gone out in 33 and birdied 10 and 12 to reach solo second place.  She wasn't able to continue the climb, parring out to post a likely-beatable -12 in the clubhouse.  Cristie Kerr was amongst the plethora (18 to be exact) who started the day within four of the lead and was doing nothing...until after the turn.  She birdied 10 and 11 to tie Lewis for second.  Then Lincicome bogeyed 12, which seemed to give a dozen players new life.  Kerr birdied 13 to tie for the lead.  Joh birdied 12 and 14 to quickly draw within one.  Stanford and Jiyai Shin birdied 14 while Jenny Shin (no relation!) birdied 14 and 15, all getting within two of the leaders.  Once again, we had a Free-For-All.

One by one, the contenders started dropping away.  The worsening conditions (wind and rain from the approaching Tropical Storm Irene) made late pars a precious commodity.  Kerr bogeyed 16 to fall out of the lead tie and then bogeyed 17 to knock herself out completely.  Jenny Shin bogeyed 18 when she needed birdie to have any chance.  Wie bucked the trend with birdie at 15 to join Lincicome at -13 but Michelle found the water hazard at 16 to give it right back.  Joh double-bogeyed 16 to fall off the map.  Stacy Lewis' -12 was starting to look pretty good.  But Brittany kept saving par and still led by one at the 18^th tee.  She missed the fairway badly and could only play her second up to about 40 yards short of the green.  But she got up and down from there to finish at -13.  Wie needed a birdie on the final hole to force a playoff but came up empty.

This was the second time Lincicome brought home the trophy in tropical storm conditions.  She outlasted winds of nearly 50mph (not to mention Lorena Ochoa and Laura Davies as well) to win the 2007 Ginn Open.

Jenny Shin finished T6 for the first Top 10 of her 1.5 year-old LPGA career and collects this week's Big Surprise Award.  Hee-Won Han gets a Shout-Out as she also finished T6 for her first Top 10 since last year's ShopRite Classic.  Suzann Pettersen followed up her Safeway victory by missing the cut by three shots, earning the Big Disappointment.  It was the first MC for Suzann since the 2007 U.S. Open, snapping a streak of 85 straight made cuts.  Since 1980, only four players have amassed longer streaks - Pat Bradley's 122 from November 1980 to February 1985 being the longest.

Rosie Jones had a disappointing week, for sure.  Her two Solheim Captain's picks certainly didn't distinguish themselves - Vicky Hurst shot 77-74 over the weekend to finish T70 while Ryann O'Toole finished tied for DFL, missing the cut by 11.  Vicky and Ryann have two more events to right their ships before they sail for Ireland.

Two veterans have decided to call it quits over the last few days.  Michele Redman played her last event at Safeway as she prepares to take on the head coaching position at the University of Minnesota.  Michele spent 20 years on Tour, winning twice - the 1997 JAL Big Apple Classic and the 2000 First Union Betsy King Classic - and playing on four Solheim Cup teams.  Sherri Steinhauer won eight times in 26 seasons, two of them in major championships - the 1992 du Maurier Classic (the predecessor to the CWO) and the 2006 Women's British Open.  Like Redman, Steinhauer played on four Solheim Cup teams and grew up in the Great Lakes area (Sherri in Wisconsin, Michele in Ohio).  Sherri will be an assistant captain at next month's Solheim Cup so she does have a chance to go out a winner.  Congratulations to both Michele and Sherri on their fine careers and good luck on their future endeavors.