 |
| Anna Nordqvist © Gallo Images |
Anna Nordqvist won the LPGA Tour Championship in Houston on Monday as Lorena
Ochoa seized her fourth straight Player of the Year award by one
point over Jiyai Shin.
Nordqvist, 22, fired a final-round 65 to finish at 13-under 203
in the tournament reduced to 54 holes because of heavy rain over
the weekend.
Ochoa was two strokes back on 205 and secured the top player
honour when South Korea's Shin couldn't chip in from the front of
the 18th green.
Shin led Ochoa by eight points (156-148) in the Player of the
Year race entering the season-ending event.
Once Ochoa was sure of finishing second in the tournament, Shin
had to place no worse than seventh to win Player of the Year.
Shin settled for a par on the last hole completing a 73 that
left her tied for eighth on 210. That gave Ochoa the player award
by 160-159 points.
Shin had already wrapped up Rookie of the Year honors, and is
the first South Korean to finish first on the LPGA money list.
Although the 21-year-old Shin couldn't join Nancy Lopez as the
only players to earn Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in
the same season, she remained upbeat.
"I learned a lot from this year," Shin said. "I need more focus,
concentration, and everything. I really made my goals. I just
missed player of the year, but I still had a good year."
Ochoa also won her fourth straight Vare Trophy for lowest
scoring average. Ochoa and Shin were neck and neck in that race
coming into the tournament.
Nordqvist, meanwhile, earned her second LPGA victory and made it
through the season without missing a cut in 15 starts. She also won
the LPGA Championship this year.
Shin and Nordqvist played in the day's final group, right behind
Ochoa. The Houstonian Golf and Country Club was still water-logged
after heavy rain on Friday and Saturday. Players were allowed to
lift, clean and place their balls.
Nordqvist surged to the lead at 12 under with five straight
birdies from the eighth.
She gave back a shot at 13, then added back-to-back birdies at
14 and 15. With the victory in her grasp, Ochoa and Shin continued
their duel.
"I definitely tried to be aggressive," Nordqvist said. "It was
pretty tight up the leaderboard, so you were really going to have
to shoot low in order to pull it off.
"I'm just very, very happy that I did."
Momentum seemed to be swinging Shin's way when Ochoa needed two
strokes to get out of a greenside bunker on the par-three 17th.
Ochoa sank a bogey putt as Shin and Nordqvist watched from the tee.
But Shin also found a bunker on 17, blasted out short of the
green and bogeyed.
Ochoa landed her approach at 18 about 16 feet from the pin, and
gave the leaderboard a hard look as she walked to the green.
She and caddie Greg Johnston discussed the situation before
Ochoa stepped up and drained her putt.
Shin's second shot at 18 was short of the green. Her chip missed
the hole by inches and Ochoa patted her heart and hugged Johnston.
Korea's Na Yeon Choi (64) and second-round leader Kristy
McPherson (70) finished tied for third on 206.
Sweden's Sophie Gustafson and South Koreans Song-Hee Kim and Hee
Young Park were tied on 209, and Shin was joined on 210 by Japan's
Ai Miyazato, Norway's Suzanne Pettersen and Taiwan's Yani Tseng.
Shin may have been feeling the pressure s she struggled with her
putter on the front nine. She didn't make a birdie until the 11th,
when Ochoa was already within a shot of the lead.
Back-to-back bogeys by Ochoa at eight and nine opened the door
for Nordqvist. Ochoa rebounded with a birdie at 15 to set up the
dramatic finish.
FINAL SCORES
203 - Anna Nordqvist (SWE) 70-68-65
205 - Lorena Ochoa (MEX) 66-72-67
206 - Na Yeon Choi 70-72-64
Kristy McPherson (USA) 69-67-70
209 - Sophie Gustafson (SWE) 70-71-68
Song-Hee Kim 73-68-68
Hee Young Park 70-72-67
210 - Ai Miyazato (JPN) 73-68-69
Suzann Pettersen (SWE)
72-68-70
Jiyai Shin 70-67-73
Yani Tseng (TPE) 69-71-70
211 - Cristie Kerr (USA) 72-69-70
Jee Young Lee 74-68-69
Sun
Young Yoo 74-69-68
Heather Young (USA) 69-69-73
212 - Maria Hjorth (SWE) 73-69-70
Karin Sjodin (SWE) 70-72-70
Wendy Ward (USA) 72-70-70
Amy Yang 76-68-68
213 - Chella Choi 71-69-73
Il Mi Chung 76-68-69
Katherine Hull
(AUS) 71-72-70
214 - Karine Icher (FRA) 71-73-70
Haeji Kang 69-72-73
Meena
Lee 72-70-72
Becky Morgan (GBR) 74-72-68
Mikaela Parmlid (SWE)
73-66-75
215 - Hee-Won Han 72-72-71
Jimin Kang, 70-76-69
Janice Moodie
(GBR) 75-69-71
Se Ri Pak 72-68-75
Karen Stupples (GBR) 71-69-75
216 - Helen Alfredsson (SWE) 72-67-77
Giulia Sergas (ITA)
72-74-70
Sarah Jane Smith (AUS) 73-69-74
Eunjung Yi 77-69-70
217 - Laura Davies (GBR) 76-69-72
Wendy Doolan (AUS) 74-72-71
Catriona Matthew (GBR) 77-69-71
Pornanong Phatlum (THA) 75-71-71
Karrie Webb (AUS) 75-70-72
218 - Jeehae Lee 74-72-72
Ji Young Oh 70-75-73
219 - Julieta Granada (PAR) 75-71-73
Rachel Hetherington (AUS)
73-70-76
Joo Mi Kim 76-71-72
220 - Lindsey Wright (GBR) 74-72-74
222 - Jimin Jeong 72-75-75
Carolina Llano (COL) 72-74-76
224 - Anna Rawson (AUS) 72-74-78
 | |  | | | Remember to go to www.supersport.com on your Mobile phone and keep in touch with the latest scores wherever you are. |  |
| |  | |  |
|
- For great golf products, 
