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Paula Creamer holds onto lead at Jamie Farr

Paula Creamer reacts after missing a putt at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic in Sylvania, Ohio, on Sunday. PHOTO: AP

Paula Creamer shot a 2-over 73 and did just enough to make a big lead stand from the start in winning the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic by two strokes on Sunday.

Creamer, who captured her seventh career win and her third this season, had worse scores every day after breaking the tournament record with an 11-under 60 in the first round. She followed that with a 65 and a 70 to finish at 16-under 268, two shots better than Nicole Castrale who closed fast with a 64.

“After you shoot 60, I swear, it’s the hardest thing. Anything over that and you feel like you’re shooting 85,” she said, laughing. “Everybody’s saying, congratulations, congratulations. But you’ve still got three days left.”

The 21-year-old American saw her lead drop to a shot when rookie Feng Shanshan — the first exempt player from China to play on the US LPGA Tour — pushed her with five birdies through the first 11 holes.

Feng said she wasn’t paying any attention to Creamer.

“Just before the tournament, my dad, he’s in China now, he called me and he told me to keep calm and just play my ball,” she said. “[He said] ‘What the others do, it doesn’t matter.’ So I didn’t let it bother me at all.”

Feng, however, quickly fell back with three straight bogeys down the stretch, although she had her best finish of the year. She said she might even buy her father a new car with a portion of the US$66,000 she won for finishing fourth.

South Korea’s Ji Eun-hee was second, followed by Karrie Webb.

After the lead fell to one stroke, Creamer recovered with her only birdie of the round at the 13th hole — around the time Feng began her string of bogeys. After Creamer missed a 3-foot par putt at the 16th hole, she had safe, two-putt pars on the final two holes to clinch the victory.

Creamer, with earlier wins in Hawaii and Tulsa this season, had 21 birdies and three bogeys over the first 54 holes — and one birdie and the same number of bogeys in the final round.

She made a lot of friends on the course despite not playing well.

She waved to little kids behind the ropes, chatted with tournament officials between holes and even made a point to walk over to get a close look at some ducks splashing in the creek near the eighth green.

On top of that, Creamer also represents the tournament’s principal sponsor, which features a pink panther in its advertising campaign.

She is well known for her pink clothing ensembles, not to mention using pink golf balls, pink grips on her clubs and a pink golf bag. She wore a pink hat and shirt on Sunday.
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