Sorenstam Beats Creamer in Playoff for Stanford Victory

LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame member Karrie Webb fired a tournament-low 7-under-par 64 in the final round.

Annika Sorenstam outlasted five-time winner Paula Creamer (pictured) in the first playoff of the season, to win the Stanford International Pro-Am on Sunday.

AVENTURA, Fla. - It may have taken a one-hole, sudden-death playoff, but Annika Sorenstam became the second multiple winner on the LPGA Tour this season, winning the Stanford International Pro-Am and simultaneously punching her ticket to the season-ending ADT Championship.

The 71-time Tour winner outlasted five-time winner Paula Creamer in the first playoff of the season, improving her career playoff record to 16-6. It was the first playoff of Creamer's four-year LPGA Tour career.

“I thought I played very well, and so did Paula. She played excellent. I know it came down to the last, well, it took 19 holes to separate us. It could have gone really any way,” Sorenstam said. “I'm just fortunate that this time it was my turn, and I'm going cherish this moment. Like I said, I felt like I played well the whole week. This is a big tournament on our schedule, and it meant a lot to me to come down the stretch there and hit some really crucial shots and finish strong.”

Trailing by one stroke at the start of the round, Creamer quickly amassed a one stroke lead over Sorenstam by carding back-to-back birdies on the second and third holes of the Soffer Course at Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club. Sorenstam knotted the leaderboard with a birdie on the sixth hole, and jumped ahead as Creamer bogeyed the next. The “Pink Panther” and “Ms. 59” traded birdies on the ninth and 10th holes, but Creamer's birdie on the 11th put both players at 9-under. Sorenstam bogeyed the 13th hole, and Creamer maintained her one-stroke lead until she followed with her second bogey of the day on the par-3, 144-yard 17th hole, which led to the playoff. Sorenstam clinched win No. 71 with a tap-in for par, while Creamer made bogey.

“It's incredibly disappointing. You know, I had the lead for quite a while out there, and then I bogeyed and she had a birdie in there. It's very disappointing,” Creamer said. “But at the same time, I'm going against on of the best players in the world that's ever to play golf. There's a lot to learn from that. This is was my first playoff as a professional, and probably the most nervous I've ever been.”

Webb cards low round and season-best finish at Stanford International Pro-Am:

LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame member Karrie Webb (73-69-70-64=276, -7) fired a tournament-low 7-under-par 64 in the final round of the Stanford International Pro-Am to propel herself to a season-best tie for third-place and $117,224 paycheck. The 35-time Tour winner entered Sunday's final round at the Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club tied for 10th place, but she lit the course up early with five consecutive birdies on the second through sixth holes of the par-71 Soffer Course. Webb made the turn at 5-under 31, and added birdies on the 11th, 12th and 16th holes, with her lone blemish occurring on the par-4, 408-yard 14th hole.

Mallon and Ward cross career milestones:

With a combined total of 22 LPGA Tour victories between them, Meg Mallon and Wendy Ward became the sixth and 33rd ladies, respectively, to cross the $9 million and $4 million marks in winnings with their performances at the Stanford International Pro-Am. Mallon's tie for 46th gave her a $7,449 payday, bringing her LPGA Official Career Money total to $9,000,599. She joins the company of Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, Juli Inkster, Lorena Ochoa and Se Ri Pak as the only players to earn $9 million or more in prize money on Tour. Ward's tie for 36th was worth $11,772, bringing her career total to $4,004,329.

Wright notches third top-10 finish of season:

Five-year LPGA Tour member and Duramed FUTURES Tour alumna Lindsey Wright (70-71-75-65=281, -2) notched her third top-10 finish of the 2008 season at the Stanford International Pro-Am, as her four-round score of 2-under-par 281 was enough to finish tied for ninth place. Wright's top-10 total through six events this season already matches her totals in both 2006 and 2007, where she also accumulated three top-10 finishes each year. In the second event of the year, the Fields Open in Hawaii, Wright recorded a career-best tie for third, and she later finished tied for ninth place at the Safeway International Presented by Coca-Cola. The Australian is a perfect six-for-six on cuts made this year, and her 3-of-7 top-10 finishes currently tie her for third on Tour, just behind Rolex Rankings' number one Lorena Ochoa (6/6) and Annika Sorenstam (6/7).

Creamer moves into first-half ADT Points lead:

Paula Creamer's second-place finish at the Stanford International Pro-Am moved her into the lead on the first-half ADT Points standings. Through seven events, Creamer has tallied 558,150 ADT Points, which edges rookie Yani Tseng's 445,333. Suzann Pettersen (390,343 ADT Points), Lindsey Wright (244,417 ADT Points) and Louise Friberg (242,409) round out the top five positions on the first-half standings. Rolex Rankings' number one Lorena Ochoa and Stanford International Pro-Am champion Annika Sorenstam are the two automatic qualifiers this season, having won Winner Events, which qualify as events on Tour with a purse of $2 million or more.

The LPGA Playoffs 2008, a yearlong competitive structure that splits the official LPGA season into two halves, culminates at the ADT Championship, Nov. 20-23, at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. Fifteen players from each half qualify for the ADT Championship, and two additional wildcards will be determined following the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex and Corona.

Story courtesy: LPGA.com

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