And now, Cristie Kerr has won again after knee surgery in the off-season -- this time in Hawaii, in the LOTTE Championship that finished on Sunday.
And she didn't just squeak out a win either. In case you missed it, she tied the course record of 62 in Friday's third round, then came back to post a 66 in the final round. In her last 36 holes she made 16 biridies and no bogeys to win by three.
Did you get that? SIXTEEN birdies, NO bogeys! And after three holes in the final round, she was still five behind the leader, Su-Yeon Jang. Jang was playing on a sponsor's invite for winning the LOTTE event on the KLPGA, where she's a member. Jang looked good (two birdies in the first three holes) until she reached #6, where she made her first bogey of the week(!) and then the wheels started to come off a bit.
It's very possible that being paired with Cristie for the final round eventually got to her. When an experienced player gets in a groove, she's not going to be shaken by an initial surge like the one Jang managed. Cristie's been on the Tour for over two decades and, with 18 LPGA wins, she knew she had plenty of time if she played well.
And she did.
So Cristie picked up her 21st Hall of Fame point. That's for the LPGA Hall of Fame, of course, because she'll make the World Golf Hall of Fame without any problem. But the LPGA has an unvarying criteria for entry -- 27 points (1 point for each win, 2 points for each major) -- and Cristie was seven points short.
Was short, that is. Make it six now. Congrats, Cristie!
This was as good as Cristie has ever been. She came back from an early round 5 stroke deficit. She took control midway through the round, and never looked back. Alena Sharp bogeyed the 18th hole on Friday or she would have been playing with Jang. Playing the final round with Cristie could not have been easy for Jang. The pair were put on the clock midway through the round. A ploy by Christie to rattle her opponent? I wouldn't doubt it.
ReplyDeleteJust a note for your readers: You can also get an LPGA HOF point by winning Player of the Year or the Vare Trophy.
http://www.tonyslpgareport.com/
Thanks, Tony. ;-)
DeleteMike
ReplyDeleteI'm with Tony on having suspicions about Kerr's slow play being coincidental. She is painfully slow at all times; it seemed like she was even slower at the beginning.
We all know some pairings are better than others (see Sergio & Rose last round of the Masters) and I've got to believe the younger the player the greater the chance is that it is a factor. I know Foltz praised her caddy, but I thought he could have done more during the round to settle her down.
Thanks for listening; enjoy your blog. Al
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that she used slow play as a deliberate strategy. After all, Butch has said that Tiger used that same strategy himself -- or speeding up play, if that seemed more effective.
DeleteAnd thanks for the kind words!
http://www.golfchannel.com/news/randall-mell/kerrs-resume-highlights-need-lpga-hof-reform/?cid=rr_editorial_p2 http://www.golfdigest.com/story/change-directions-like-cristie-kerr-to-fix-your-driver
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