Date: January 21, 2014
Author:

Profile: Paula Creamer

 

Paula Creamer

 

A California girl, Paula Creamer took up the sport at age 10 and quickly developed into a top player at the junior level. Like her peer Morgan Pressel, Creamer went on to win 11 American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) titles.

In fact, in 2003 Creamer was named AJGA Player of the Year. This followed by a year her membership on the U.S. Junior Solheim Cup team.

Creamer's first significant notice among the greater golf world – outside of junior golf – started coming in 2004 when she was 17. That year she tied for 13th at the U.S. Women's Open. And, playing on a sponsor exemption, Creamer placed second at the LPGA Tour's ShopRite Classic, just one stroke behind winner Cristie Kerr.

Creamer played 10 LPGA Tour tournaments as an amateur in 2003-04, and in five of them finished inside the Top 20.

Ready to move up to the professional ranks, Creamer entered the LPGA's Q-School at the end of 2004, and won it by five shots. She turned pro and joined the tour … but not before both Golfweek and Golf Digest had selected her as the top amateur of 2004.

Creamer had a great LPGA rookie season in 2005, winning twice, posting 11 Top 10s and finishing second on the money list. The first win came at the Sybase Classic, four days before she graduated high school. Creamer was 18 years, 9 months, 17 days old at the time, making her, at that time, the third-youngest winner in LPGA history.

And her second victory that year was at the high-dollar Evian Masters in France. Later, she also won on the Japan LPGA tour.

Despite having just one year to accumulate points, Creamer easily qualified for the U.S. Solheim Cup team. Then she led the team to victory, earning the most points for the Americans with a 3-1-1 record.

In 2006 Creamer posted even more top 10s (14), but it was a frustrating year for her in some ways. She failed to win a tournament and struggled for much of the year with a wrist injury.

But Creamer began 2007 by winning the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, and won a second time that year. In 2008, Creamer won four times, becoming the first American to win four times on the LPGA Tour since Juli Inkster in 1999.

She went winless on the LPGA in 2009, then started 2010 suffering an injury in the season opener. Creamer underwent thumb surgery and returned after several months of rehab. Shortly thereafter, Creamer won the 2010 U.S. Women's Open for her first career major.

LPGA Tour victories:

9

Australian Open victories:

Nil

Bio:

Born: 5 August 1986, California
Represents: USA
Resides: Windermere, Florida