Australia’s Katherine Hull rallied to win the Navistar LPGA Classic on Sunday for her second LPGA Tour victory, pulling ahead with a birdie on the par-5 17th and finishing with a par for a 5-under 67 for a one-stroke victory over Brittany Lincicome.
Hull, who also won the 2008 Canadian Women’s Open, finished at 19-under 269 on the links-style Senator layout at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Capitol Hill complex. After opening with a 68, she had three straight bogey-free 67s.
“It’s actually really validating,” said Hull, who began the round three strokes behind Cristie Kerr. “I feel like my game’s the best its ever been, and I know it’s going to get better, too. I think I’ve always struggled to try to put four good rounds together and I was able to do that this week.”
Photo: AFP
On the par-4 18th, Hull missed the fairway to the left and was faced with a challenging lie. She hit her approach on the green, 50 feet from the hole. Her birdie attempt stopped 5 feet short and she saved par for the victory and US$195,000 first-place check.
“I would have liked a tap-in, for sure,” Hull said. “Putting is the best part of my game, so [I was] glad to see it drop.”
Lincicome closed with a 65.
“You know, 65 on the final day, that’s pretty cool,” Lincicome said.
Lincicome was the first to congratulate Hull, running onto the green and spraying her with a victory beer.
“It’s a little overwhelming,” Hull said. “It probably won’t hit me until later. You just get so focused on executing and just finishing that you don’t think about anything else.”
Kerr shot a 72 to tie for third at 17 under with Na Yeon Choi (69). Kerr played the first 50 holes in 20 under, then was 3 over on the final 22.
“Today, things just didn’t go my way,” Kerr said. “If I had played half as well as I had played the first three days, it would have been no contest.”
Playing in the final group with Hull, Kerr pushed her approach shot to the right of the green on 18 and two-putted for a bogey. Had she won the tournament, she would have earned enough points to take over first place in the Rolex Player of the Year standings. She remained third behind Taiwan’s Yani Tseng and Ai Miyazato.
Lindsey Wright shot a course-record 63 to share fifth at 16 under with Amy Yang (66) and Pak Se-ri (69).
Taiwan’s Amy Hung finished joint-20th with six other players on 278 after shooting 69.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Mcgladrey classic
Reuters, ATLANTA, Georgia
American Heath Slocum holed a 60-foot birdie putt at the 16th hole en route to a one-stroke victory on Sunday over compatriot Bill Haas at the inaugural McGladrey Classic at St Simon’s Island in Georgia.
Slocum, despite a bogey at the last, posted a two-under-par 68 for a 14-under-par total of 266 for his first victory of the season and fourth of his US PGA Tour career.
“The putt on 16, I mean that’s the tournament winner,” said 36-year-old Slocum, the overnight leader whose last win came at last year’s Barclays, opening event of the FedExCup playoffs.
“It goes in from where you could three-putt more times than you’re going to make it. When that went in, that was huge,” he said.
Haas, who won last week’s Viking Classic, eagled the par-five 15th to reach 13 under par but could not gain another stroke, parring the last three holes for a 66.
The 28-year-old Haas said he had an ideal chance for birdie at the par-four 16th but fouled up.
“I hit a perfect drive there and had a perfect sand wedge distance, and I just pulled it,” he said. “It was just a bad shot.”
Tied for third place on 12-under-par were Australian Robert Allenby, Arjun Atwal of India and American David Toms.
Atwal (66) posted five birdies before slipping with a bogey at the 18th, while Allenby registered six birdies before taking a double-bogey at the last to ruin his bid for victory.
“I struggled with it all week,” Allenby said about the tee shot at the 18th guarded by a hazard on the right. “That hole cost me four shots this week, just in two bad drives.”
Dunhill Links
Reuters, ST ANDREWS, Scotland
Lee Westwood missed the chance to replace Tiger Woods as world No. 1 as Germany’s Martin Kaymer came through to win the Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday.
Kaymer fired a six-under-par 66 to claim his third European Tour title in a row, while Ryder Cup colleague Westwood, needing a top-two finish to end the Woods reign, which now stretches to 279 consecutive weeks, struggled to a 73 and finished tied 11th.
Westwood, troubled by a calf problem during the tournament, said he planned to take about a month off to let the injured muscle fully heal.
The last European to win three PGA Tour events in a row was former world No. 1 Nick Faldo in 1989 and Kaymer’s triumph lifted him to fourth in the world rankings.
He birdied the closing two holes to finish three strokes clear of Briton Danny Willett with overnight leader John Parry third after a double-bogey at the 14th derailed his title bid.
Defending champion Simon Dyson closed with a 66 and a share of fifth place.
Since winning the US PGA Championship in August, Kaymer has won the Dutch Open, been a member of Europe’s winning Ryder Cup team and now managed a first success at the home of golf.
“It was always one of my dreams to win here at St Andrews,” Kaymer told reporters. “I can still remember my first day: I came out here when I was an amateur and walking down the first hole, walking over the bridge, all of those things, they felt very special to me.”
“So it was very, very special for me to win here today, in the home of golf,” Kaymer said.
England’s Willett moved to 19th on the Race to Dubai money list by finishing second on 14-under par. The 23-year old eagled the par-five 14th on route to a final-round 67.
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