Roundup | Creamer wins by 8 shots in elite LPGA Tour event
MOBILE, Ala. - The Pink Panther won in style.
Paula Creamer, complete with pink outfit, hat and ball, ran away with the Tournament of Champions on Sunday, winning by eight strokes.
“All of my other tournaments that I won have been with the white ball,” Creamer said. “So, this was a little extra added pressure I put on myself with that, but I’m glad I won with my pink ball.”
The 21-year-old Californian closed with her second consecutive 4-under-par 68 to finish at 20-under 268 - a stroke off the tournament record set last year by Lorena Ochoa.
“I wanted to break the record,” Creamer said. “It definitely was a goal of mine. But especially in the middle of the round, where I started making some birdies and had something to go for. You know, it is kind of a bummer that I didn’t get it.
“But at the same time, I will take it. It’s a win.”
Creamer earned $150,000 for her second victory of the year and fourth in three seasons on the LPGA Tour. She joined Ochoa (seven) and Suzann Pettersen (five) as the lone multiple winners on the Tour this year.
“I gave myself a lot of chances,” Creamer said. “I stayed really confident with myself, and I believed I could do it.”
Birdie Kim (68) was second at 12 under, and Annika Sorenstam (70), Natalie Gulbis (68) and Pat Hurst (72) tied for third at 10 under in the event for tournament winners from 2004 to 2007 and active Hall of Famers.
Jimin Kang (65), a graduate of King’s High School in Shoreline, tied for sixth at 8 under with Pettersen (72) and Jin Joo Hong (73) and made $35,091.
Wendy Ward (71), who lives near Edwall, outside Spokane, tied for 10th and earned $21,431.
Kim’s second-place finish is her best since she won the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open.
Sorenstam, winless since September 2006, earned a spot next week in the season-ending ADT Championship in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“I’ve done well there in the past and I really like it,” Sorenstam said.
Mickelson prevails
in playoff in China
SHANGHAI, China - Phil Mickelson glanced at the gleaming trophy on his left, rolled his eyes and broke into a sheepish grin.
“I cannot believe I’m here as the champion right now,” the American said.
Lefty overcame six penalty strokes in the final round, blew a three-shot lead with seven holes to play, and still won the HSBC Champions tournament. He prevailed on the second hole of a three-way playoff with Englishmen Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood by making a 4-foot birdie putt.
The victory in Asia’s richest tournament earned Mickelson $833,000. It was his fourth win this season, and it also gave him a tournament title that top-ranked Tiger Woods has failed to win in two attempts.
Fisher, ranked No. 141 in the world, had a one-stroke lead going to the 72nd hole.
It seemed Mickelson would need several clutch shots to at least force a playoff. Instead, he dumped his long approach into water off the right edge of the green.
“I never thought, after hitting in the water, I had a chance,” said Mickelson, whose win was his second outside the United States and first since he won in France 14 years ago.
On the final hole of regulation, Fisher tried reaching the green on the 538-yard hole in two instead of playing safe and laying up. Fisher’s ball landed in thick Bermuda rough just off the green. Needing to get down in three for a par and the win, Fisher chipped his third onto the sloping green. It bounced off and into lateral water. He took a penalty drop and needed a chip and two putts for a double bogey to finish at 2-over 74, 10 under for 72 holes.
Mickelson (76) had a chance to win in regulation but missed a 10-foot putt for a par.
“I guess I’m not really looking back on this round and remembering very many of the shots,” Mickelson said.