Getting ready for next week’s ShopRite LPGA Classic we got to thinking about the history of the event and its welcome return to the LPGA schedule in 2010. Here’s a look back at the year that was and what else was happening around the world of golf and in the news in 2010.
2010 ShopRite Champion Ai Miyazato
Ai Miyazato won the ShopRite LPGA Classic at 16-under par, 2-strokes ahead of Mi Jung Hur. It was Miyazato’s fourth of five wins on the LPGA Tour in 2010.
The Pink Panther Wins First Major
Five years after turning pro, Paula Creamer won her first major championship at the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open at Oakmont Country Club. Creamer won her 9th LPGA Title with a surgically repaired, hyperextended left thumb which she said was only 60 percent healed at the event but was able to cruise to a 4-stroke victory for her first major title.
“It's incredible, it really is,” Creamer said after the win. “It's been amazing. I've always thought of my career as I've always been a pretty solid player, but yes, that question always lurked: How come you never won a major? And now we have, and we never get to get asked that question again. That's kind of a big relief off of my shoulders, but I knew that the time would come. I just had to be patient.”
Ochoa Says Goodbye
Lorena Ochoa retired from professional golf at the Tres Marias Championship in May 2010 at the top of her game and ranked the No. 1 player in the world. Ochoa joined the tour in 2003, winning 27 times on Tour including two major championships.
“I'm making this decision because all the elements are together,” Ochoa said during a press conference in April 2010. “ I always said that I wanted to play for some years, around ten years. And what I wanted to do is achieve my goals and to be the No. 1 player in the world. Retiring today or being at the top, you know, today is my anniversary for three years of being at the top in the Rolex World Rankings.”
Bunkergate
The 2010 PGA Championship will perhaps be remembered best for the mistaken identity of a bunker off the 18th hole at Whistling Straits, where Dustin Johnson unknowingly grounded his club in the hazard, costing him a spot in the playoff with Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson. Kaymer won the playoff for his first major championship victory.
In other news, the iPad was officially released in January of 2010, Conan O’Brien hosted his final episode of the Tonight Show, and Mark Zuckerberg was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
)
)
)
)
