(7 November 2011 – Shima-Shi, Mie Prefecture, Japan)
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Japan&aposs Momoko Ueda has claimed her second LPGA win on the third hole of a playoff against China’s Shanshan Feng at the Mizuno Classic. The two players were tied at 16-under par after the regulation 54-holes. Rolex World No. 4 Na Yeon Choi fired a final round 8-under par 64 to finish one stroke out of the playoff in outright third place.
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rnUeda, whose only other LPGA title came at the same tournament in 2007U, carded a final round of 3-under par 69 after starting the day with a three-stroke buffer over local favourite Sakura Yokomine.
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rnFeng had started the day four shots off the lead and was in the second to last group, just one hole ahead of Ueda. She put some early pressure on Ueda with birdies at the opening two holes and had joined Ueda on 13-under with another brace of birdies on the 7th and 8th holes.
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rnUeda regained the advantage with back-to-back birdies on the 9th and 10th holes. Feng hit back with her third set of back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th holes and the race for the title appeared to be between these two. However, two groups ahead of Feng, Choi was on some sort of run posting seven birdies in her opening 14 holes to be just one behind the 
leaders.
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rnChoi would have been disappointed with her bogey on the 15th hole which saw her slip to 13-under par and two behind. She finished in the fashion she started with two more birdies in the last three holes to set the clubhouse target of 15-under par. At that stage, both Ueda and Feng were on the same score.
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rnUeda struck first, moving to 16-under on the 16th hole but shortly thereafter she could hear the applause for Feng’s birdie up ahead at the par-3. Again, they were tied.
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rnFeng had a 15-foot putt on the 18th hole in regulation to take the lead, but couldn’t convert the birdie. Ueda also had a chance to seal the win in regulation, but left her 16-foot birdie putt 10 inches to the right of the hole.
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rnOn the first playoff hole, Ueda struck her approach shot to within five feet, but she burned the left edge of the cup and tapped in for par. Feng two-putted from 20 feet for par.
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rn“I really thought she was going to make that putt,” said Feng, 22, the first full-status member of the LPGA Tour from the People’s Republic of China. “I thought, ‘Good, she gave me another chance.’”
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rnReturning to the 18th hole for the second extra hole, both players landed their approach shots to the front portion of the green and both two-putted for par. Ueda parred the hole from 30 feet, while Feng got up and down for par from 40 feet.
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rnOn the third trip to the 18th hole, Feng’s approach landed 25 feet left of the hole. Her birdie attempt missed right and she tapped in for par. Ueda, buoyed by flag-waving Japanese fans around the last green, hit her approach to 15-feet and then stepped up and rolled her putt slowly into the cup.
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rnThe 25-year-old Ueda earned $180,000 in the $1.2 million event. The victory was her first since the 2009 AXA Ladies Open and her second on the LPGA Tour and ninth on the Japan LPGA.
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rn“I was starting to think I’d never win again,” said Ueda, whose Mizuno Classic win in 2007 earned her LPGA membership in 2008. “It’s been a tough four years in America.”
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rn“When I missed that birdie putt, I thought I had lost my luck to win,” said Ueda, whose 2007 Mizuno Classic win allowed her to gain membership on the 2008 LPGA Tour. “But my caddie told me to just enjoy this and to just finish it.” And there’s no better way to enjoy it than winning.
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rnAs for the Australians, Karrie Webb finished strongly with a final round of 67 to move up the leaderboard into outright 13th place. Nikki Campbell meanwhile, went in the opposite direction slipping from a tie for 26th to a tie for 46th with a final round of 1-over par 73. A special mention and congratulations also must go to Wollongong’s Steve McRae who coaches Momoko Ueda.