(15 June 2010 – Springfield, Illinois)
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It took until early Monday morning, but America&aposs Cristie Kerr completed her 13th LPGA Tour victory with a final round of 3-under par 69 to finish at 22-under par, one shot better than Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist and Korea’s Na Yeon Choi.
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rnIn a tournament beset by poor weather and lightning, both Saturday and Sunday’s play were forced to be abandoned in the early afternoon meaning some players finished their tournament on Sunday. However, the top end of the leaderboard still had holes to play with the leaders starting Monday morning on the 9th hole. For Kerr, it was a blessing as she had battled a cold all week and had felt tired and weak at various times on the weekend.
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rnKerr had started the final round with a three shot lead over Nordqvist, four over Shanshan Feng and there were a group of players including Choi a five off the pace. During play on Sunday, Nordqvist reeled off 4 straight birdies from the 3rd hole to actually tie Kerr at 20-under par.
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rnOn resumption on Monday morning, Kerr’s first shot was a birdie putt from 7-feet which she holed to regain the outright lead. She followed that with another birdie on the 10th to move two in front. The lead stretched to three when Nordqvist birdied the 12th hole and it looked as though Kerr would win comfortably, however the tall Swede had other ideas as she made back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th holes to sit one behind with four to play.
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rn32-year-old Kerr showed all of her experience with a birdie on the 16th, while Nordqvist could make no further inroads with four straight pars to finish. Kerr had the comfort of needing only a bogey on the last hole to win, she played safe, took the bogey and collected US$255,000 for her efforts. After a long week she was asked about the confidence this win gives her, to which she said, “It boosts it a lot. I think what&aposs more impressive to me is that I still felt like I have things to work on and that I could have even done better. So that&aposs what I&aposm gonna focus on, because winning is really the accumulation of everything that you do well better than everybody that week.”
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rnKarrie Webb was again the best of the ALPG players continuing her consistent start to a disjointed season, finishing in a tie for 11th at 16-under par. Heading into a stretch of 5 straight weeks which include two Majors, Webb would be satisfied with her final two rounds of 65 and 67. Lindsey Wright made her return to competitive golf after a short layoff by finishing in a tie for 23rd while Tamie Durdin, in only her second LPGA event of the year finished tied for 30th. Perhaps the best story of the week was Rachel Hetherington’s return to golf after breaking her leg at Christmas. She finished tied with Sarah-Jane Smith at 55th.
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rnThis week the players move to New Jersey for the US$1.5million Shoprite LPGA Classic where the ALPG will be represented by a contingent of 8 players: Tamie Durdin, Michelle Ellis, Rachel Hetherington, Katherine Hull, Sarah Kemp, Sarah-Jane Smith, Karrie Webb and Lindsey Wright.
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Photo&aposs by Paul Melville.