Whatever the mind games before the start of the final round of the Canadian Women's Open, it's only the shots on the course that matter in the end. And Karrie Webb came out firing today, making birdies on 3 of her 1st 5 holes to get to -11. But Suzann Pettersen stayed calm, even when early bogeys erased her 2 birdies on the front, even when her 5-shot lead had dwindled to 3. And her patience paid off on the back, where she's birdied her 1st 3 holes on it to extend her lead on Webb, who's made nothing but pars since the 6th hole, to 6 shots, a lead she maintained when both leaders bogeyed the par-4 13th.
With Angela Stanford starting par-par-bogey-double, the race for 2nd is officially on. Momoko Ueda is the leader in the clubhouse after shooting a 30 on the back for a 65 that got her to -10 overall. Morgan Pressel got it to double digits twice on the back, most recently with a birdie on the par-4 16th. Ai Miyazato, her fellow Senior Standout, started slow but has birdied 4 of her last 5 holes to also get to -10. Perhaps this is not purely academc, as Pettersen just bogeyed her 2nd hole in a row. A 5-shot lead with 4 to play can get smaller, under the right circumstances. We'll see.
Lower down the leaderboard, several players showed how to get it done on a Sunday. Na Yeon Choi bounced back from yesterday's birdieless 75 with a bogey-free 66 that lifted her to T24 at -2. 67s by Soo-Yun Kang (E, T31), Stacy Prammanasudh (-4, T20), Amy Yang (-6, T16), Song-Hee Kim (-7, T11), and Anna Nordqvist (-8, T8) moved them up the leaderboard. The biggest mover, though, was Ji-Yai Shin, whose 63 today would have put her in contention but for her 77 yesterday in the wind.
Time to shift over to not-quite-live blogging mode!
[Update 1 (4:56 pm): Vicky Hurst is averaging over 290 yards off the tee and, like yesterday, the putts finally started dropping for her on the last 7 holes on the back, where she made 5 birdies to close with a 31 (66, -9, T6). Meanwhile, Pettersen maintained her 5-shot lead by matching Webb's par on the 15th. Pressel ended up tying Ueda at -10 when she failed to birdie the 17th or 18th.]
[Update 2 (5:02 pm): If just 1 player would fall back to -7, I have a great chance to win this week's Pakpicker. I hate to be rooting for bogeys from Sophie Gustafson and Kristy McPherson, but Ya Ni Tseng's 2 doubles and 4 bogeys have dropped her well out of the top 12, or top 30, for that matter...which means I absolutely need Shin and Song-Hee Kim to finish T12.]
[Update 3 (5:03 pm): A birdie for Webb on 16 cut Pettersen's lead to 4. She's alone in 2nd at -11 now; Ai-sama needs to birdie 18 to catch her.]
[Update 4 (5:12 pm): You win some, you lose some. Gustafson bogeyed 18 to drop to T12 with Shin, Kim, and Juli Inkster but Ai-sama failed to birdie 18 and ended up at -10 with Ueda and Pressel.]
[Update 5 (5:31 pm): Wow, a lot happened while I was restarting the computer after imoto shut it down (on purpose!). Stanford eagled the par-4 17th and Webb bogeyed it, so both join the big group at -10, 5 behind Pettersen after her par on 17. And McPherson bogeyed 18, too, to bring Shin and Kim to T10. Hmm, maybe I'd better stop wishing bogeys on people!]
[Update 6 (5:33 pm): If Pettersen can't birdie 18, only 3 players--Miyazato, Webb, and In-Kyung Kim--will have broken 70 all 4 rounds at Priddis Greens. And that's assuming Webb doesn't bogey it.]
[Update 7 (5:44 pm): It was pars all around on 18 for the trio in the final pairing. Congratulations to Suzann Pettersen for her 1st win since 2007 on the LPGA!]
[Update 8 (7:24 pm): Here's Hound Dog's pre-tv overview.]
[Update 9 (9/7/09, 11:05 am): And here's Hound Dog's epilogue.]
[Update 10 (9/9/09, 3:09 am): Here are Brian Heard and Jamie RS's overviews.]
No comments:
Post a Comment