(27 June 2011 – Rochester, New York)
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Rolex World No. 1 Yani Tseng became the youngest golfer in history to win four major titles, shooting a final-round of 6-under par 66 to capture the 2011 Wegmans LPGA Championship by a massive 10 shots. In second place was Morgan Pressel, while Suzann Pettersen, Cristie Kerr and Paula Creamer tied for third.
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rnTseng, 22 years, 5 months, 3 days, already had the distinction of being the youngest player in LPGA history to win three majors and adding her fourth surpassed Patty Berg who won her fourth major at the 1941 Western Open when she was 23 years, 2 months and 1 day. Her speed in getting the fourth major is not only an LPGA record but exceeds any male golfer, Tiger and Jack included.
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rnTseng entered Sunday’s final round with a five-shot lead over Cindy LaCrosse and Pressel. Tseng made an opening hole bogey to open the door slightly, but then made three straight birdies to increase her lead to seven strokes. From there it was about how many records she could break. Birdies at the 6th and 8th holes increased Tseng’s lead to ten strokes and when she made the turn, she held a 9-shot lead at 17-under-par.
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rnTseng was trying to match the lowest score in relation to par at a major championship, which is 19-under-par. Birdies on 14 and 17 helped her to tie that mark but she missed a birdie putt on her final hole that would have given her the record.
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rnFor Tseng, it was her eighth career victory on the LPGA Tour and half of those wins have been majors. Afterwards, she was asked about her concentration with such a big lead to which she replied, “I just feel like I was coasting because I look after nine holes, and I saw I was 8, 9 shot lead. I was like, what&aposs a new goal for me? That&aposs why I tell myself, setting a record to make 20-under, so that&aposs a new goal for me on the back 9. Otherwise I just don&apost know what can I do for the back 9. Because I just want to play one shot at a time. But I don&apost think I&aposm fighting hard. But after I tell myself, let&aposs bring it 20-under, and I am fighting back again to try to make birdie again.”
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rnTseng’s next goal is the US Women’s Open which will be the next tournament played on the LPGA from July the 7th. It is the only major Tseng is yet to win and you certainly wouldn’t be betting against her such is her dominance at the moment. Remembering that she also won the previous tournament, The State Farm Classic, by three strokes, it would appear we have the next dominant player, following in the footsteps of Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb.
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rnSpeaking of Webb, she was once again the best performed Australian with a tie for 20th. An opening round of 74 put her on the back foot but rounds of 69, 71 and 72 to finish saw her rise up the leaderboard each day. Sarah Kemp and Sarah-Jane Smith were next best in a tie for 50th while Katherine Hull had a disaster final round to slip to a tie for 57th.
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rnThe highlight of the week for the Aussies was Kemp’s front nine on the final round. She shot an opening nine of 6-under par 29 which included four birdies and a hole-in-one at the par-3 5th. Kemp used a five-iron from 158 yards to record only the second ace in competition at Locust Hill Country Club. She etched her name in the record books tying Webb for the lowest 9-hole score in Wegmans LPGA Championship history. Webb shot a 6-under par 29 during the second round of the 2001 Wegmans LPGA Championship.