(2 August 2010 – Southport, England).jpg)
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It was a case of so near, yet so far for Australia&aposs Katherine Hull as she attempted to run down over night leader Yani Tseng to claim the Ricoh Women&aposs British Open at Royal Birkdale Golf Club. In the end, Tseng claimed victory by one shot over Hull with a pair of Korean’s three shots back in third; Na Yeon Choi and In-Kyung Kim.
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rnHull put herself into contention after finishing her third round with five straight birdies to fire a 6-under par 66 and propel herself into the last group on Sunday. Meanwhile, Tseng had been a model of consistency after posting her third straight round of 4-under par 68 which had included just a solitary bogey. This led to the Rolex World No.5 entering the final round at 12-under par with a four shot cushion over Hull with Kim two shots back in third.
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rnHull made much the better start picking up birdies at both the 2nd and 3rd holes to move to 10-under par. Meanwhile Tseng made a bogey at the 3rd hole and the lead was just one. At the very next hole, a par-3, the lead was back to three as Hull failed to get up-and-down from the greenside bunker while Tseng drained a long putt for birdie. Another birdie by Tseng at the 6th hole and the lead was back out to four shots.
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rnAs usual in the Major championships, the win had to be earned and Hull set about challenging Tseng early on the back nine. Tseng helped her out a little with a bogey at the 10th before Hull moved to within one shot after birdies at both the 11th and 13th holes. With the three par-5’s over the final four holes it was still either player’s tournament for the taking. The rest of the field was out of it and it was a race in two.
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rnNeither player could make birdie at the first of the par-5’s down the stretch and again made pars at the par-4 16th. Hull had a great chance to close the gap on the par-5 17th, however her birdie putt just caught the edge of the hole and lipped out. It therefore came down to the last hole, another par-5 where the players walked on to the tee with Tseng still holding her slender one shot buffer, with Hull mounting enormous pressure.
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rnOff the tee, Tseng found one of the fairway bunkers while the 28-year-old Australian found the fairway. Tseng had to basically chip out while Hull had a shot at the green and a playoff looked imminent. Unfortunately for Hull her ball skipped just through the green on the bouncy links. Tseng found the right hand edge of the green with her third shot and the chance was there for Hull to force a playoff with an up-and-down for birdie. It wasn’t to be as she slightly mishit her chip shot, and left herself 15-feet. She missed her birdie attempt, made the par putt and then watched as Tseng drilled her par putt from three-feet to clinch her third Major title.
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rnFor Tseng, it was the first time she has won while leading into the final round. Afterwards she commented, “I was never leading and won the tournament, I was always leading and lost. So today was really good. It meant a lot to me that I know I can do it when I really need to do it to win a tournament.” It was her second Major of the year after she won the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April and lifts her to third on the Official Money List with season earning’s of US$1,121,592.00. She may also move to the Rolex No.1 position when the rankings are released early tomorrow.
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rnFor Hull, it was by far her best performance in a Major, her previous best was a tie for 8th at the 2008 Kraft Nabisco. While obviously disappointed, her runner-up cheque for US$256,209 moved her up to 15th on the Money List and will most likely catapult her back into the World Top-20. Following presentations she said, “So disappointing, but I did the best that I could.” Always gracious in defeat, she added, “I knew that if I had a good day that it would be a close finish. Yeah, she hung on, made that clutch putt at the end. When you look at the whole week, she played great.” It was Hull’s fourth runner-up finish of the year, a year where she started with second place finishes at the ActewAGL Royal Canberra Ladies Classic, Bing Lee/Samsung NSW Women’s Open and ANZ Ladies Masters. She will now head to Ireland to play on a sponsor’s invitation at the €500,000 AIB Irish ladies open to be played at Killeen Castle where the Solheim Cup will be played in 2011.
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rnOnly two other ALPG Members in the field managed to make the cut. Karrie Webb finished in a tie for 43rd at 5-over par while Sarah-Jane Smith was two shots further back in a tie for 55th.
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Photo courtesy of LET.