Inside the Ropes

Lorena Ochoa held onto her lead at the Navistar LPGA Classic after the third round and with an impressive three stroke lead between her and current second place Sandra Gal. Ochoa was 6-under-par 66 for a total 16-under-par . Sandra Gal is 13-under-par. She hit an eagle on her sixth hole. Janice Moodie and Brittany Lang is tied for 3rd with 12-under-par 204. 

Cristie Kerr clocked in 8-under-par today to move up from T68 to tie for 13th at 8-under-par 208. While amateur wunderkid Alexis Thompson carded a 2-over-par to drop from the top ten to tie for 13th alongside Kerr and Michelle Wie. 

Team VTech’s Alena Sharp finished 1-over-par to finish 5-under-par 211 while Diana D’Alessio and Becky Morgan tied for 60 with 2-under-par 214. 

On Sunday, the final round, with the threat of rain, defending champion Lorena Ochoa continued as she had all week/weekend and stayed in the lead and…. won!! She successfully repeated her win and cashed in on the $1.3 million purse by walking away with $195,000. She increased her lead today by 2 strokes and finished 18-under-par 270. Finishing four strokes behind Ochoa were Brittany Lang and Michelle Wie at 14-under-par 274. Wie hit an impressive 6-under-par to clench her second place finish. 

A big surprise in the top ten was our good friend Beth Bader, who finished tied for 6th at 12-under-par 276, and recording a second best.  Another surprise this tournament was junior Alexis Thompson finished T27 with 6-under-par 282. Team VTech’s Alena Sharp also finished T27. Diana D’Alessio finished T61 at even-par 288 and Becky Morgan had a little trouble and dropped to finish at 80 with 5-over-par 293. 

Team VTech continues to do a great job! Congratulations Girls.

The sun was slow to show this morning on Ghost Creek at Pumpkin Ridge Golf course for the Finals of the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca Cola as our girls swept the dew. But when it did, another layer of sunscreen had to be applied and fast!

It was a hot day for some hot golf. The race was close and the play intense as Michelle Wie, Anna Nordqvist, Ai Miyazato, Suzann Pettersen and more were vying for the title of champion and the prize money that comes with it. There were some good pairings out on the field today. Last year’s champion and number one on the money list Cristie Kerr was paired with rookie and crowd favorite, Michelle Wie. (Wie has yet to win a major tournament). Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson, Christina Kim and South Korean’s M.J. Hur were lumped up together. Suzann Pettersen, Michele Reman and Natalie Gulbis had the herds following from one hole to another all day. And second day leader Anna Nordqvist was with Japan’s pride and joy, Ai Miyazato and South Korean Seon Hwa Lee.

The leader board showed no outright winner as lunch began this afternoon, but after a strong putt by Suzann Pettersen on the 12th hole, it seemed to many that she was on a roll and would be crowned winner. But, as it turned out, they assumed too quickly as Pettersen dropped from 15-under-par to 12-under-par when she bogeyed the 14th hole and then quickly double bogeyed the 15th, leaving her to birdie the 17th and finish at 13-under-par for the tournament. 18 year veteran Michele Redman, who was grouped with Pettersen, remained consistent throughout as she birdied 5 holes and failed to bogey once, tying her for 13th place. Rounding out the battle for the top of the leaderboard was South Korean M.J. Hur who had 7 birdies today, one of them being an eagle on the 10th hole, hitting a low 65. Hur, a first year rookie, had only a 13T as her career best finish before recording her first major victory today. She walks away with $255,000 in prize money today. 

Hur defeated Redman and Pettersen in a two-hole sudden death playoff. 1st round leader Beth Bader finished tied at 20th at 2-over-par, finishing at 5-under-par 211 with the likes of Sandra Gal, last year’s champion Cristie Kerr, Team VTech’s Amy Hung and more. Not a bad way to spend your birthday, right Betty? (Happy Birthday). Team VTech’s Becky Morgan finished tied for 65th, Karen Stupples tied for 49th (with Lorena Ochoa), and Alena Sharp tied for 45th. Anna Nordqvist finished at 7th with 10-under par. Michelle Wie, Ai Miyazato, and Seon Hwa Lee finished tied for 4th at 11 under par and Christina Kim, Angela Stanford and Paige MacKenzie finished tied for 8th at 9 under par. 

Next week our girls are off to Canada for the CN Canadian Women’s Open where Canadian favorite and Team VTech member Alena Sharp will go up against Katherine Hull and the rest of the field for a chance at the $2.75 million purse.

Fresh off her Solheim Cup victory, Cristie Kerr is back in Oregon at the 38th Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola to defend her title during the three-day event on the 6,546 yard Ghost Creek Course at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Oregon. Pumpkin Ridge, host to the 2003 U.S. Open is a new course for this year’s Safeway Classic.

If she manages to pull off a win, she’ll be the first back-to-back winner since Annika Sorenstam. Also in the ranks are 143 of the best players in the world.  20 of the top Rolex ranked players, including number 1 and 2 ranked Lorena Ochoa and Yani Tseng. 

We’ll also be keeping a close eye on our Team VTech gals, so check back as the tournament begins and follow all the action on Inside the Ropes.