HSBC Women's Champions Sunday: Shin Makes a Move on Hull

If you haven't been following the live blog for the HSBC Women's Champions, go there now. I'll wait for you.

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OK, so you know that Karrie Webb just missed a 65 when she bogeyed the 18th and Jee Young Lee and Alena Sharp shot near-flawless 68s, right? And you saw how Katherine Hull was cruising until a bogey at the par-4 10th and a double at the par-5 13th dropped her to -10 for the tournament and back into a tie for the lead with Ji-Yai Shin, who birdied her 1st 4 holes and followed with 6 pars in a row until she birdied the par-3 11th to also get to double digits under par, right?

Well, time to wait for that live tv feed to kick in! Enjoy. I'll be back.

[Update 1 (1:42 am): Darn it! Still can't get that feed to work. Would have been nice to see how Hull's bogey on the par-3 14th and Shin's birdie on the par-5 15th opened up a 2-shot lead for the latter.]

[Update 2 (1:50 am): Just as Shin isn't the only golfer making a great run today, Hull isn't the only one finding big trouble on the back. Amy Yang was -2 on her day and -7 for the tournament walking off the 10th green, but proceeded to make 2 doubles and a bogey over the next 5 holes before coming back with a birdie on the short par-4 16th. In-Kyung Kim, meanwhile, had birdied 7 of her last 9 holes heading into the par-4 17th, but walked away with a triple that dropped her to +1 for the tournament. Karen Stupples peaked at -4 before a triple on the par-4 12th stopped her dead in her tracks; in the end, she had to settle for an E finish. And it just hasn't been Angela Stanford's or Ai Miyazato's day, either. Ouch.]

[Update 3 (3:11 am): Welcome, daylight savings time! And on a brighter note than last update, props to Vicky Hurst for not giving up after her 79-84 start. Only Ji-Yai Shin, Angela Park, Jee Young Lee, Karrie Webb, Lorena Ochoa, Cristie Kerr, Ya Ni Tseng, and Laura Diaz have matched or outdone her 71-70 weekend. And only Katherine Hull and Angela Stanford are likely to join them. Not bad company at all.]

[Update 4 (3:13 am): Paula Creamer birdied 16 and 17 to get to -9 and while Katherine Hull failed to birdie either the par-5 15th or the short par-4 16th, she birdied the tough par-4 17th to pull within 1 of Ji-Yai Shin. Shin's parred out since making her 6th birdie; a birdie on 18 would clinch her 1st win as an LPGA member, while a par would leave the door open slightly for Hull to force a playoff.]

[Update 5 (3:18 am): Sun Young Yoo was at -9 when the troubles were hitting Hull, but she bogeyed her next 3 holes in a row. Still, a nice birdie on the 17th has lifted her into a tie with Lorena Ochoa and Jane Park at T6 right now. Angela Stanford is making an even nicer comeback, having matched Creamer's back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17. She's currently T4 with Angela Park, who fired a great 68 but had to settle for 8 straight pars to finish out her round. Stanford still has a chance to make it 3 in a row, though.]

[Update 6 (3:24 am): Nice walk-off birdie for Se Ri Pak to post a 71 and finish the tournament at -4, alone in 13th. Here's hoping Pak is back!]

[Update 7 (3:26 am): Shin parred 18 and Creamer bogeyed it to fall to -8, now T3 with the Angelas, Stanford and Park. Hull will need to birdie 18 to force a playoff!]

[Update 8 (3:37 am): Hull bogeyed the 18th to take solo 2nd at -9. What an incredible win for Shin!]

[Update 9 (12:25 pm): Got some linkage for y'all. Here are Bill Jempty and LPGA.com on Shin's win. And look for updates to the LPGA's stats pages any time now....]

[Update 10 (3/9/09, 3:54 am): Hound Dog's final round play-by-play was well worth the wait--he goes into how things happened the way they did, not just what happened.]

[Update 11 (3/10/09, 1:02 am): Hound Dog asks a great question (just ask Ryan Ballengee), and Bill Jempty finds out his suggested answer was right. All is well.]

[Update 12 (1:11 am): Sal Johnson and Dave Seanor agree. Good thing, b/c Dave really ripped the LPGA on that silly member vs. non-member win thing.]

[Update 13 (1:25 am): Tim Maitland finds better quotes than the AP. No surprise: he's been responsible for most of the great writing at the HSBC site. Want to know how good he is? He manages to bury his lede that HSBC hasn't yet committed to re-upping this event. Hey, you've got to sugarcoat a little when you're writing on HSBC's dime, right? I suspect HSBC actually wanted the news that they're performing due diligence on their ROI and ROO metrics to leak out there, given the problems in the banking sector around the world. (Sorry, my trial sub to Sports Business Journal just ran out. Anyway, I hope AP snaps up Tim soon. A Maitland-Song duo covering the LPGA regularly would be fantastic!)]

[Update 14 (2:02 am): Here are the Golf Channel highlights. Not bad, but not as good as the HSBC site's.]