Michelle Wie ties for the best round of the day
At 6-under, Michelle Wie tied with Sung Hyun Park, Becky Morgan, and Madelene Sagstrom for the round of the day Sunday at the Shoprite LPGA Classic presented by ACER. With her bogey-free finish, Wie was able to move up to a tie for 3rd, her third top-10 of the year.
Wie said the key to her round was her wedge play, something she had been struggling with earlier in the week.
“I just stuck it close in there today,” she said. “I was kind of frustrated after my first round, I just couldn’t get my wedges close at all. I spent a lot of time on the range afterwards just working on my wedge game.
“I’m glad it paid off today. I hit it a lot closer today which felt good.”
Wie made five birdies on her first nine holes and admitted this finish gave her some great momentum moving forward, especially as she tries to make the Solheim Cup team.
“I’m stalking the list for sure. I’m trying to get as many points as I can and trying to get up there and make the team,” she said. “After a missed cut last week you always have things creeping up in your head giving you a bit of doubt, but it felt good out there today to crush all of (the doubt) and keep building momentum.”
Ariya Jutanugarn is the new world No.1
With So Yeon Ryu missing the cut this week at the Stockton Seaview Golf Club – thereby ending the longest streak on the LPGA Tour – Ariya Jutanugarn is the new No.1 in the Rolex Rankings.
Her rise to the top ends Lydia Ko’s 84-week run at No.1 (Ko was also the youngest person to ever reach No.1 on the Rolex Rankings) and, although she wasn’t in the field this week, was still able to reach the top of the rankings with Ryu’s missed cut.
Had Ryu won, finished in a tie for second with up to three other players or came in third alone than it would have been her who reached No.1, but, it was not to be.
Jutanugarn is the 10th golfer to reach No.1 since the Rolex Rankings were first established.
Anna Nordqvist fails to three-peat
Although Anna Nordqvist held a piece of the lead Sunday, a late bogey ultimately was her undoing, and she couldn’t recover. She fell two-shots short of In-Kyung Kim’s winning total of 11-under par.
Nordqvist, who would have become just the third golfer – after Annika Sorenstam and Betsy King – to three-peat at an LPGA Tour event, took it all in stride.
“Just having the honor to back-to-back defend is quite amazing. I’ve had a lot of supporters cheering me on this week and I really appreciate everyone’s support,” she said. “There was a little bit of pressure coming into it but it’s just been fun. I’m trying to embrace it. I love this golf course. I love hitting the shots.”
Nordqvist was 3-under par before bogeying the par-3 15th. She finished with a 2-under-par 69 and a 9-under total for the week.
Paula Creamer takes away positives this week
Despite a 3-over-par 74 Sunday, Paula Creamer said she’s taking away positives this week and with reason: here tie for 7th his her best result on the LPGA Tour this season by 23 positions.
“Any time you get to play in the last group, it’s a good thing,” she said.
Creamer’s first top-10 of the season comes at a good time, as she’s trying to stockpile Solheim Cup points. She admitted Sunday she needed to work on playing more consistently moving forward.
“I just couldn’t get the speed down early with my putter… definitely a lot slower today than yesterday and I just couldn’t figure it out. I should have been able to see that a little bit better,” she said. “I hit a lot of good-quality shots… I hit a lot of poor-quality shots too. It’s balanced out in that sense.”
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