Miyazato with strong final round on U.S. soil
Although it wasn’t the finish Ai Miyazato wanted, bogeying the 72nd hole Sunday in Portland after an otherwise flawless final round, she still left the Cambia Portland Classic presented by JTBC, an event she won in 2010, with her head held high.
Miyazato will retire at the end of the 2017 LPGA Tour season, and this week marked her final week on American soil before playing a few events overseas to close out her year, and her decorated career.
Miyazato, who won four times in 2010 and ascended to No. 1 in the world, said earlier this season that 2017 would be her last.
Still, she had a chance to go out on top until late Sunday when Stacy Lewis just pulled too far away.
“It's been tremendous week for me,” said Miyazato, who finished tied for fifth, her best finish of the season.
Miyazato admitted she got emotional on the final hole of the tournament, and reflected on what she was going to miss the most about playing on the LPGA Tour.
“I’m going to miss so many things, but I think mostly my friends and all the people from the LPGA and sponsors,” she said. “I met them through playing golf… so many good people on the tour, so I'm definitely going to miss them.”
Altomare notches best ever LPGA Tour result
After playing with hometown hero Brooke Henderson a week ago on her turf at the CP Women’s Open, Brittany Altomare notched her best LPGA Tour result ever, after a 3-under-par 69 Sunday in Portland moved her into a tie for third.
Altomore, who made just one bogey Sunday, said she was ‘really happy’ with her result.
“I'm just really excited. I played well all week,” she said. “I feel like I had had a few good tournaments where I was playing well, but like didn't quite capitalize on one round which kept me out of the top 10 by like a shot or two.”
She said it was nice to string together four solid rounds and notch a fine result. Her previous best in 2017 was a tie for 16th at the LOTTE Championship presented by Hershey, and now, she said, she’s eager to play on bigger stages – including the Evian Championship, the LPGA Tour’s final major of 2017.
“We have a major coming up soon, so I think… (My result) makes me more confident heading into to big tournaments coming up,” she said.
Piller feeling the momentum
After a big win at the Solheim Cup two weeks ago, Gerina Piller took last week off to recover.
She came out this week in Portland firing on almost all cylinders and finished tied for fifth, her fourth top-5 result of the season.
“Feel like I played well at Solheim, and last week took the week off just trying to recover. Felt a little tired this week, so just trying to build on the momentum of this week. I think Friday I was maybe outside the cut line, made it back inside the cut line, and ended up making the cut at 3-under and just kind of clawed my way back up the top,” said Piller.
Piller shot a 4-under-par 68 on Sunday to move to 13-under for the week. Although she started off poorly, with a three-putt bogey on No. 2, she chipped in for birdie on No. 3, and then rattled off four more birdies on her front nine.
She said she’s looking forward to next week and trying to lock up a victory before the season is through, perhaps even, at the year’s final major.
“Definitely had the momentum (this week) and hopefully it'll carry over the next two weeks,” she said.
Jutanugarn locks up another top 10
Moriya Jutanugarn just couldn’t get anything going Sunday in Portland, finishing at even par for the day and 14-under par for the week.
However, her tie for third was her seventh top-10 finish of the year, and she’s seemingly done everything but win so far in 2017.
“I was pretty happy,” said Jutanugarn. “Always learn something new every time when we play in the final group. It's great. It's very great experience.”
Jutanugarn said she has ‘pretty good’ momentum heading into the next stretch of tournaments on the LPGA Tour schedule, which includes the final major of the year.
“A lot of good things happen on the golf course,” she explained. “I just want to stay positive and just think about what we’re doing good and just keep working on it.”
Chun has fifth runner-up finish of 2017
In 2015 Stacy Lewis had six runner-up finishes. And after Sunday, In Gee Chun is just one second-place result away from matching that total.
Chun fired a bogey free 6-under-par 66 Sunday, but just ran out of holes. Lewis admitted with a smile that she was glad she didn’t have to play any more holes up against Chun, who was ‘making everything,’ according to Lewis, the eventual winner.
But Chun, who has six top-3 finishes this season (she finished tied for third a week ago at the CP Women’s Open), is eager to tee it up again sooner rather than later, and try to finally find the winner’s circle in 2017.
“I made another bogey-free round, and then I think it was great round today,” said Chun. “Stacy play was good, too. I really enjoy play with Stacy. I know Stacy have a little hard time before, so I want to give to her big congratulations. And then that's it. I want to try and keep going.”
Chun is the defending champion of the Evian Championship, the final major of the year on the LPGA Tour, and said she’s feeling good heading to that event in two weeks’ time.
Before the (Ricoh Women’s British Open) my mind was not normal. I think almost back to normal,” she said. “Now I can enjoy more my golf, so I'm ready to go to Evian.”
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