Sunday, September 30, 2007

Heartbreak at Navistar Classic

No, I'm not talking about Lorena Ochoa falling short in her bid to win her fourth consecutive tournament at the Navistar Classic, or Stacy Prammanasudh failing to capitalize on her opportunity to win her second tournament of the year. They had their chances to win, but as Hound Dog describes the final-round action, they opened the door on the front and Maria Hjorth went out and closed it in their faces on the back. Disappointing, but not heartbreaking, especially given how good their years have been overall. Nor am I talking about people who had difficult weekends and plunged down the leaderboard, like Moira Dunn (78-78, +10, T72, $2,453), Kyeong Bae (77-76, +3, T47, $4,588), Christina Kim (75-74, E, T30, $11,277), or Sun Young Yoo (74-73, E, T30, $11,277). Frustrating, maddening, annoying, but not heartbreaking.

What I'm talking about is Virada Nirapathpongporn's Sunday. She was -9 at the start of the day and in a great position to snag a top 5 that would put her in great position to keep her card for 2008. So she starts with 7 straight bogeys and ends with 2 bogeys and a double bogey over her final 5 holes for an 82 that dropped her all the way back to +1 for the tournament (T30). Instead of making $50,000 or more, she had to settle for $8,713, which means she's going to have to double her winnings for the year over her last few events to have a chance to avoid Q-School. The good news for her is she'll likely be playing the entire Asian swing, so it's still possible for her to do it. But how do you bounce back from playing such a bad round just when it mattered most?

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