Taiwan’s World No. 1 Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) won the LPGA State Farm Classic on Sunday, firing a four--under 68 for a three-shot victory over Cristie Kerr of the US.
Tseng finished with a 21-under total of 267 on the Panther Creek Course, which might have hosted the last Springfield LPGA event with the State Farm insurance company’s sponsorship now ending.
Tseng nabbed her seventh LPGA tour title in four years and her second of the year after her triumph in the season-opening LPGA Thailand.
Photo: AFP
Kerr was the defending champion, but she had to settle for her third straight runner-up finish this season. She closed with a 67 for 270, two shots in front of Paula Creamer (67) and Brittany Lincicome (70).
Mindy Kim, who relinquished the lead to Tseng in the third round after leading the first two rounds, carded a 73 for 273, where she was joined by South Korean veteran Pak Se-ri (68).
Taiwan’s Amy Hung (洪沁慧) finished tied for 58th place after a 74 gave her a 286 total.
With the victory, Tseng laid the ghost of her 2008 playoff loss in the tournament. She had led by a stroke with one hole left in regulation, but flew the green en route to a bogey. She then three-putted the first extra hole in a loss to South Korea’s Oh Ji-young.
“I walked to 18 and I have a little nightmare in my mind saying I’d make bogey at the last hole, but standing on the tee I told myself: ‘OK, let’s hit fairway, green and make two putts.’ I Just kept telling myself: ‘I can do this,’” Tseng said.
And she could. There were no mistakes this time around, as Tseng played the final two rounds without a bogey.
“I missed a couple of putts, but I still was able to make some birdies,” she said.
Tseng had given herself some breathing room with a birdie at the par-three 17th.
“That was huge,” she said. “I tried not to look at the leaderboard on 16. On 17, I know that’s a tough hole, so I just hit it. I was perfect — tap-in for birdie.”
The crowd reaction was so loud that Tseng asked her caddie if the shot went in.
“I was asking: ‘Is that in the hole?’ Because I never made a hole-in-one since I turned pro, so I was really excited about that one,” she said.
Tseng said she does not think about her top ranking anymore since it is a goal she has already reached.
“I’ve been doing pretty good, so now I don’t think about it anymore, because we have so many great players in the LPGA,” she said.
She added that there has been great competition among her and the other top players, and that keeps her moving forward.
“We have to keep working hard, because if you just stop there, everybody is going to catch you very soon. So those players push me harder and I push them harder,” Tseng said.
She remains at the top of the LPGA money list with US$905,725 in winnings this year, followed by runner-up Kerr, who has won US$716,760.
Kerr opened her round with back-to-back birdies and finished with five birdies and no bogeys.
“I played good. I just needed to get some of those putts to the hole, give them a chance to go in,” Kerr said. “It would have been nice to make birdie on the last hole, but it didn’t matter. She was too far ahead.”
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