(6 June 2011 – Marion, Iowa)
rn
Kathleen Ekey, a second-year professional served up a little bit of grit on her final hole to sneak out her first professional win wire-to-wire at the Ladies Titan Tire Challenge. The native of Sharon Township, Ohio held off rookie Jean Chua (72) of Malaysia and Carling Coffing of Ohio (73), who tied for second at even-par 216
rn
rnIt wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t easy, but Ekey, who started the final round at Hunters Ridge Golf Course with a five-shot lead, held on for the win in spite of a scorecard punctuated by four bogeys, one double-bogey, a single birdie and a final-round score of 77 for a one-under finish at 215.
rn
rn“Do I like shooting 77?” she said. “Absolutely not! Today was a struggle and I never really got it going, but I hit the ball well enough to win the golf tournament. It’s still pretty special.”
rn
rnEkey never relinquished the lead for 54-holes, but Chua joined her at one stage in the final round when she made a birdie on No. 14. The share of the lead was short-lived, however, when the former Wake Forest University player ran into trouble with water hazards on holes 15 and 17, making bogeys on two of her last four holes.
rn
rnCoffing also chased Ekey in today’s windy final round, but ran into trouble with an errant driver. Four bogeys in the span of holes from No. 9 through 13 knocked her off the pace. But Coffing, known for scrambling around the greens, chipped in for birdie on the 17th hole to draw within one shot of the lead.
rn
rnWith Chua and Coffing hot on her heels, Ekey’s day full of hiccups had one more surprise waiting on the par-five 17th hole. She hit her 4-iron second shot chunky, sending her ball into a water hazard. With 230 yards to the hole from the drop zone, Ekey watched in horror as her 3-wood 4th shot kicked left into the water once again. Taking a double-bogey, she had now lost a three-stroke cushion with only one hole to play.
rn
rnCarrying her own bag, Ekey led by a single stroke as she walked to the 18th tee, trying to compose herself.
rn
rn“I was really, really disappointed when I walked off the 17th green, but I took a deep breath and told myself to focus on hitting a good drive,” said Ekey. She proceeded to stripe her drive on the final hole and two-putted for par and the win.
rn
rn“In Tuscaloosa, when the tornado hit, people went from normal life to nothing in five minutes,” she said to media, who asked what she had experienced when she returned from a Texas tournament to Alabama to get her car after the storm. “I was very, very lucky because there was utter devastation everywhere around where I live.”
rn
rnEarlier in the week, when Ekey spoke to media about helping to feed those who had lost their homes, she dabbed her eyes with a tissue. She said she “still gets goose-bumps” thinking about the destruction in the town she has called home for most of the last three years.
rn
rn“You just never know,” she said. “It’s unbelievable how everything can be taken from you in a split second. It puts everything in perspective.”
rn
rnLeanne Bowditch was the best of the ALPG players however had a demoralising final round in which she slipped from a tie for 2nd to a tie for 42nd after posting a 10-over par round of 82 in the gusting winds. Cathryn Bristow also made the cut finishing in a tie for 57th.