Golf Talk

Ronald McDonald was on hand to present the trophy to sweet Suzann Pettersen for winning the 2007 LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock, meanwhile Woody Austin surprised many with his fantastic round of 8-under to win the St. Jude Championship in Memphis.

LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock

It was a back and forth final round battle between Suzann Pettersen and Karrie Webb heading down the back nine, but it was the Norwegian who came up big in the end winning by one shot at 14-under overall. I mentioned before how the mainstream media was making such a big deal about her meltdown at the Nabisco, but all week, Pettersen has answered her critics. With Na On Min and Karrie Webb making birdies all over the back nine, Suzann simply stepped up and made huge birdie putts. There were many places where Suzann could’ve folded but she never seemed to feel the pressure, she knew exactly what she needed to do and she executed.

Give credit to both Na On and Karrie, they both charged hard and really put the pressure on Suzann. Karrie even said in her post-interview that she thought that by getting that birdie on 18, she expected Suzann to feel the pressure and bogey. Twice in a row Karrie finishes second, now that’s gotta suck. Na On played nervous the front-nine, but played with nothing to lose on the back nine and showed that she’s got game. She is definitely someone to watch in the future, great short game and good putter.

Last few notes, I was disappointed by Morgan Pressel, I thought she would play much better than she did today. Brittany Lincicome finally played the way I expected her to today, too bad her game didn’t show up earlier. Lorena Ochoa battled and finished decent. Finally, Michelle Wie had another horrendous round, she blames the bad wrist, and maybe it was the wrist, but she’s falling flat on her face right now. I think a lot of people are secretly enjoying in the failure of Michelle, if this were a basketball game they’d be chanting, “OVERRATED… OVERRATED…” People will keep piling on her until she wins, that’s the only way to shut her critics up.

St. Jude Championship

I’m sorry, but Adam Scott has got to be the choke artist of 2007 to date. He simply disintegrated on the back nine Sunday and lost the championship. I realize that Woody Austin’s 8-under round would’ve beat everyone anyway, but Scott simply fell apart at the most crucial time. The tide of the tournament changed when Adam triple-bogeyed the par 3 14th while Woody birdied it to take the lead for good. He had the lead last weekend as well only to see KJ Choi snatch the victory right from under him.

Woody by all counts was a tour drifter. Hasn’t played all that well this year or in his entire career but in his words, “played one of those dream rounds of golf”. His 8-under was the best final round this year, and auto-qualifies him for the US Open next week at Oakmont.

David Toms played decent, certainly not good enough to win. I was disappointed by Vij, Retief and Padraig. Maybe it was the conditions or being distracted by playing at Oakmont next week, but I expected them to be at least below par.

PGA Tour, St. Jude, Woody Austin, Adam Scott, LPGA Tour, LPGA Championship, Suzann Pettersen, Karrie Webb