(21 May 2012 – Gladstone, New Jersey)
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Spain&aposs Azahara Munoz is never going to forget her first LPGA Tour win. It was as emotional as it was controversial. Munoz beat Taiwan&aposs Candie Kung 2 & 1 in the final to win the Sybase Match Play Championship. The title was effectively set up when Morgan Pressel was penalised for slow play while in control of their semi-final match.
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Pressel was one of the first to hug and congratulate Munoz, her good friend, but she also had to be feeling this could have been her title just as easily.
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The controversy occurred in the morning semi-final in which Munoz and Pressel were both slow, although Munoz was probably slightly more guilty. Both players were warned about slow play after nine holes and were put on the clock after finishing the 11th hole.
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The 12th hole changed the match completely. Pressel won it with a par to seemingly take a 3-up lead. However, before she could tee off on No. 13, tour official Doug Brecht informed her that she was being penalised for slow play. She had taken 2:09 to play her three shots, 39 seconds over the 30-second limit per shot.
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In match play, a time penalty constitutes a loss of the previous hole and that handed Munoz the hole. She was now only 1-down and back in the match.
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Pressel, who was on the verge of tears several times in a post-match news conference said, "It was a tough timing because it was a really big, I think, turning point in the match, going from 2-up to 3-up, and then all of a sudden back to 1-up, I mean, it was really unfortunate."
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The time penalty was the first for Pressel in seven years on the tour and it left a very bad taste in her mouth, knowing Munoz was the slower player. She added, "You know, I think that what bothers me the most is that we were given sufficient warning and she really didn&apost do anything to speed up and then I was penalised for it."
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Munoz was apologetic, saying, "I know I was slow and I really apologised for that and I told her, but I do feel both of us were slow and she was the only one getting penalised, and that was not fair and I know that.”
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The controversy didn’t end there. Munoz evened the match with a birdie at No. 15, but not before Pressel contended the Spaniard touched the line of her putt before striking the ball.
rnMatch referee Marty Robinson had two officials review the videotape but he said they could not see any evidence of a rule being broken. Munoz then made her putt.
rnPressel lost the match when she bogeyed the next two holes, missing a 3-foot par putt at No. 17.
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"It&aposs an unfortunate situation," said Heather Daly-Donofrio, the senior vice president of tour operations. Daly-Donofrio said two other players have been penalised for slow play this year and five were penalised last year. Pressel was the only one disciplined in the tournament, although two others face fines for slow play.
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When asked about officials deciding events instead of the players, Daly-Donofrio said that USGA rules have to be upheld. Rule 6-7 says players must play without such delays and it&aposs up to the tour to apply its policy.
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The afternoon matches were almost anticlimactic.
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Munoz, an NCAA champion at Arizona State, took a 2-up lead at Nos. 11 and 12 when Kung ran into problems and never lost it cruising to a 2 & 1 victory.
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Munoz was defensive when asked about the win being controversial and tainted. "I don&apost care. You guys are the ones that are going to say that" said Munoz, who earned $375,000. "You guys can say whatever you want to. You know, I didn&apost do anything wrong. She lost the hole because she was slow, I wasn&apost. I was slow before, but not when the clock was on and that&aposs when you can&apost be slow."
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Kung, who beat top-ranked Yani Tseng in the third round and topped Hurst 2 and 1 in the semifinals, earned $225,000 in just missing her chance to win for the first time since 2008.
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Pressel played a bogey-free 5 under for 17 holes in beating Hurst in the third-place match.
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"It was extremely difficult,&apos said Pressel, who made $150,000. ”The last place I wanted to be was on the golf course." Hurst, who was looking for her first tour win, earned $112,500.
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No Australian made it past the third round when Katherine Hull was defeated comfortably by South Korea’s So Yeon Ryu. Lindsey Wright and Karrie Webb fell to the eventual champion, Munoz in rounds one and two respectively.
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The players move to Galloway, New Jersey next week for the US$1.5m ShopRite LPGA Classic starting on Friday 1 June.
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