Taiwan’s Yani Tseng, surprise winner of the LPGA Championship in June, was named the LPGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year on Friday.
At the age of 19, she became the second-youngest woman to win a major championship with a playoff victory over Sweden’s Maria Hjorth at the Bulle Rock course in Havre de Grace, Maryland.
“It’s my honor to win the Rookie of the Year,” Tseng told reporters after missing the cut after the second round of the season-ending ADT Championship in West Palm Beach. “It can happen only one time in my life and I got my goal this year.”
Mexican world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa was named the Player of the Year for the third season in a row.
Ochoa won seven titles this year, including her second successive major at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April. She launched the season with a red-hot run of six victories in nine events.
The Guadalajara native also won the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average on the LPGA Tour (68.58).
“Lorena has had yet another incredible season,” LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens said in a statement. “Her work off the course has been equally impressive. Once only a national hero, Lorena is now a global hero. The world is grateful to have her and we are more than proud to call her our own.”
Ochoa has opened elementary schools in her native Mexico through her Lorena Ochoa Foundation and donated US$100,000 to flood victims in Tabasco after winning last year’s ADT Championship.
Meanwhile, Swedish superstar Annika Sorenstam also missed the cut at her final event, ending a 15-year glorious career on the Tour.
A teary-eyed Sorenstam said she was able to pack more joy and memories into her storied career that she ever imagined.
“It’s almost that a tear wants to come out, but it’s not really coming out,” said Sorenstam, who shot a three-over 75 to finish in a tie for 18th. “I think it’s because I’m very happy with what I’ve done. You know, I’m content. I’ve said it all along, I feel good.”
The field was cut to 16 players after the second round, with Aussie Katherine Hull atop the leaderboard.
“I had really two good chances there [on holes 14 and 15] and when you don’t make those, you know it’s going to be very hard,” Sorenstam said.
While Friday’s round wraps up her US career, the 38-year-old Swede is scheduled to play her final tournament in Dubai next month.
The owner of 72 LPGA wins and 10 major championships, Sorenstam announced in May that she had decided to end her Hall of Fame career and pursue other interests.
“It’s been a wonderful career,” Sorenstam said. “I’ve enjoyed it immensely. I don’t think just a few words would summarize how I feel or what I’ve achieved or what I’ve gone through in experiences.”
■ HONG KONG OPEN
AFP, HONG KONG
German legend Bernhard Langer said becoming the European Tour’s oldest winner would rank near his greatest achievements after he stormed into contention at the UBS Hong Kong Open yesterday.
Langer, 51, shot a stunning day’s best 63 to lie two shots off English leader Oliver Wilson and a shot behind Taiwan’s second-placed Lin Wen-tang with 11-under 199 and raise his hopes of a first top-level victory since 2002.
The former world No. 1 and two-time US Masters winner is now vying to topple Irishman Des Smyth’s record of winning the 2001 Madeira Islands Open aged 48.
Langer has also played 10 Ryder Cups, one off Nick Faldo’s record, and captained Europe to victory in 2004 during a glittering career stretched over four decades.
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