Salonpas Cup Sunday: Fukushima over Shin for the Playoff Win

It was a 4-player race heading into the back 9 at the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup. Third-round leader Akiko Fukushima had gotten off to a fast start with birdies on the 2nd and 4th holes to get to -7, but Ji-Yai Shin and Sakura Yokomine responded with birdie pairs of their own to get to -5 and -4 respectively when a Fukushima double-bogey on the 5th erased her lead on Shin and dropped it to 1 on Yokomine and first- and second-round leader Na Zhang. Shin and Fukushima's lead rose to 2 when Yokomine and Zhang both bogeyed the 8th, but dropped back to 1 when they both bogeyed the ninth. Even though a Fukushima bogey on 10 briefly gave Shin the lead, she played the next 3 holes in -1, opening up a 1-shot lead on Shin and 3-shot leads on Zhang and Yokomine.

From the 14th hole on, it was thus a 2-player race to the finish. Fukushima and Shin traded pars on the 14th, birdies on the par-3 15th, and pars on the 16th. When Fukushima bogeyed the par-5 17th, however, Shin pulled even again, and that's where they stood after both players parred the long par-3 18th. Fukushima prevailed in a 5-hole playoff. Let's turn it over to Breitbart.com's report from the Kyodo news service:

Fukushima survived the playoff by holing delicate par-saving putts before clinching her first Japan LPGA major title in 11 years in an anticlimactic fashion on the decisive hole, where she three-putted while Shin missed her third putt for bogey....

After both players birdied the par-3 15th, Fukushima got into trouble on the 17th where she pulled her drive into the trees and then went from rough to rough on her way to a bogey 6.

Shin was left to rue a missed three-footer for birdie on the same hole after setting up an opportunity for a two-shot swing with a superb approach shot.

In the playoff, staged repeatedly on the 202-yard, par-3 18th, Shin made a series of routine pars while Fukushima found herself on the verge of elimination on the third and fourth holes before coming back with gutsy putts both times.

"It's been a long while since I last got so thrilled at winning a tournament and it makes me feel like I crying for joy all night tonight," Fukushima said after claiming her first win on the tour since the NEC Karuizawa 72 event in August last year....

"She [Shin] is a very tough player and showed few signs of making a big mistake. I got this feeling of wanting to beg her to give me a win during today's round," Fukushima added....

Sounds like Shin had at least three good chances to put the tournament away and couldn't capitalize on them. Still, a playoff win and a playoff loss in her two JLPGA events this season is a great record for anyone. Here's the top 10 and notables:

1st/-4 (won in playoff) Akiko Fukushima (71-70-70-73)
2nd/-4 Ji-Yai Shin (73-72-68-71)
T3/E Sakura Yokomine (73-69-72-74), Na Zhang (68-72-72-76)
5th/+1 Mi-Jeong Jeon (71-74-71-73)
6th/+2 Bo-Bae Song (74-70-77-69)
7th/+3 Rui Kitada (71-74-76-70)
T8/+4 Miho Koga (69-79-71-73), Yukari Baba (71-72-71-78)
T10/+5 Ji-Hee Lee (70-77-74-72), Michiko Hattori (72-73-74-74), Mihoko Iseri (72-74-73-74), Yuko Mitsuka (72-74-75-75)

14th/+6 Erina Hara
T15/+7 Mie Nakata, Chie Arimura
T20/+8 Hiromi Mogi, Shiho Ohyama
T29/+10 Miki Saiki, Shinobu Moromizato
T32/+11 Se Ri Pak
T41/+14 Hyun-Ju Shin, Yun-Jye Wei
T45/+15 Midori Yoneyama
T55/+18 Yuri Fudoh

So Fukushima wins the JLPGA's first major, Ji-Yai Shin continues to impress, Mi-Jeong Jeon does respectably in her title defense, Se Ri Pak continues to struggle, and Yuri Fudoh has to wait to break the the 1 billion yen barrier in career winnings.

[Update: Mulligan Stu captures that WTF?! feeling I had when Yokomine's putter abandoned her in her playoff loss to Shin in March!]