(23 May 2011 – Gladstone, New Jersey)
rn
Rolex Rankings No.3 Suzann Pettersen held off No.4 Cristie Kerr to take a 1up victory in the final match of the 2011 Sybase Match Play Championship. Pettersen sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to seal the match against Kerr and clinch her first victory of the 2011 season. Pettersen’s last win came at the 2009 CN Canadian Women’s Open.
rn
Despite feeling under the weather for the majority of the week, Pettersen managed to win six straight matches to capture the title and the $375,000 first-place winner’s check. It was a week full of close matches for Pettersen, who saw four of her six matches go down to the 18th hole. Pettersen’s largest victory of the week came in the second round when she defeated Amy Hung, 5 and 3. Coming into this week, Pettersen had recorded three top-10 finishes this season.
rn
The final match was a tightly contested battle between Pettersen and Kerr, with a Solheim Cup feel pervading. Pettersen, a five-time member of the European team, took a 2up lead through four holes with birdies on the 2nd and the 4th, but Kerr, who has made five U.S. Solheim Cup appearances, brought the match back to all square with two birdies of her own at No. 5 and No. 8. A birdie on the par-4 9th by Pettersen gave her a one hole lead at the turn. Things remained close as the two world class players halved the next five holes on the back nine before Pettersen won the 15th hole to take a 2 hole lead. But ever the competitor, Kerr birdied the 17th to force the match to the final hole.
rn
The road to Pettersen’s match-play title (seeding in brackets)
rnSuzann Pettersen (5) defeated Natalie Gulbis (49), Amy Hung (45), Stacy Lewis (21), Yani Tseng (4), Na Yeon Choi (1) and Cristie Kerr (3).
rn
No. 1 seed Na Yeon Choi won the consolation match over Angela Stanford, 4 and 3. After falling to Kerr on the 18th hole of her morning semi-final match, Stanford was slow to get things going against Choi. Last year’s LPGA Official Money List winner, Choi won five of the first nine holes and took a 4up lead into the turn. She continued to charge on the back nine, winning the 10th hole to extend her lead to 5up. But Stanford won the 12th and the 14th with pars to cut Choi’s lead to 3up with four to play. Choi closed-out the match with her par on the 15th to take a 4 and 3 victory and earn the third place finish.
rn
It wasn’t a great week for the Australians with Katherine Hull and Sarah Kemp bowing out in the first round while Karrie Webb, after beating Kemp in the first round lost to Paula Creamer in her second round match.