Creamer rolls to big win at Tournament of Champions
Paula Creamer finished with a four-under 68 to close out a commanding eight-stroke win.
Semmes, AL - There was not much doubt in the outcome of the LPGA Tournament of Champions on Sunday.
Paula Creamer entered the round with a six-stroke lead and her cushion never dipped below that number.
Creamer, who won the season-opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay, finished with a four-under 68 to close out a commanding eight-stroke win.
She completed the event with a score of 20-under-par 268, one shy of the tournament record that Lorena Ochoa set last year.
With her second win of the season, Creamer joins Ochoa and Suzann Pettersen as the only multiple winners this year.
“I’ve been playing good the last couple of months, it just always seemed to be that someone played better,” said Creamer, who collected $150,000 for the win.
Birdie Kim also closed with a 68 to take second at 12-under-par 276.
Former world No. 1 Annika Sorenstam (70) shared third place at minus-10 with Natalie Gulbis (68) and Pat Hurst (72).
Ochoa, the current world No. 1, posted a Sunday 70 to end alone in ninth at seven-under-par 281.
Creamer quickly pushed her lead to seven as she opened with a seven-foot birdie putt on the first. At the par-five fourth, she pitched to three feet and kicked that in for birdie.
She reeled off six straight pars from the fifth on the Crossings Course at Magnolia Grove. Creamer moved to 19-under as she converted a four-footer for birdie on 11.
Creamer drained a long birdie putt on the 14th and climbed to 21-under as she got up and down for birdie on the par-five 16th.
After a routine par on the 17th, Creamer’s drive at the last buried in a fairway bunker. She blasted out to the fairway, then knocked her third to 18 feet.
Creamer’s par-saving putt lipped out and she tapped in for a closing bogey, her first bogey since the ninth hole of the opening round. The win was actually her second on this course.
“I played here when I was a junior in an AJGA event and I actually won here,” Creamer stated. “So it is kind of special to come back and win as a professional.”
For the week, Creamer scorched the back nine. She played those nine holes at 16-under with 17 birdies and a lone bogey. Creamer held at least a share of the lead after every round.
“There are a couple different feelings,” said Creamer of playing with a big lead. “You know you are in control, but at the same time there are a lot of people gunning for you out there, trying to go as low as they possibly can to put the pressure on. At the point, you just have to play your own game.
“I was able to stay focused on what was at task. I wanted to beat the record of 21-under, but unfortunately I made bogey on the last hole. It was a really good tournament.”
Pettersen, who won three of her last four starts entering this event, closed with an even-par 72. She shared sixth place with Jin Joo Hong and Jimin Kang at eight-under-par 280.
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