September 24 - 27, 2009 San Ramon Valley • Blackhawk CC |
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| You are here: Home > History > 2001 | ||
 2001 Champion Se Ri Pak |
2001 Pak Takes Home Longs Drugs Challenge Title Golfweb Wire Reports LINCOLN, Calif. -- Se Ri Pak never needed to worry about Annika Sörenstam on Sunday in the Longs Drugs Challenge, shooting an uneventful 1-under 71 to keep one streak alive and stop another. Se Ri Pak captured her 10th career LPGA Tour title Sunday. (AP) While Sörenstam faded early, Pak used two late birdies to hold off Laura Diaz by two shots and win her second tournament of the year. Michele Redman finished another shot back. It was the first time in five tournaments that Sörenstam was not holding the winner's check. A second streak continued, though, with Pak's win leaving Americans 0-10 this year on the LPGA Tour. Sörenstam, trying to win for the fifth straight time to tie a record set 23 years ago by Nancy Lopez, began the day eight shots back and shot a 75 to finish 12 shots behind. Pak, winning for the 10th time on Tour, fought a balky putter on the front nine and fell out of the lead with a bogey on the par-3 13th hole. But she came back to make consecutive birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 to regain the lead and made a routine par to win. Pak, a South Korean who caused a sensation by winning two majors in her rookie year in 1998, talked to her golf ball in English on the front nine but couldn't convince it to drop in the hole enough. But she strung together eight straight pars, through the 12th hole, then played 1 under the rest of the way in to win. Diaz, who shot a final-round 68, held the lead by herself while playing the 15th hole after bogeys by both Pak and Redman. She may have been the only person on the course who didn't know it, though, as she tried not to look at the scoreboards. "I could tell from the crowd I was in contention, but I just wanted to play my game," Diaz said. "It wasn't until the 17th green that I saw where I was." Diaz was tied for the lead as she teed off ahead of Pak on No. 18, but bogeyed the hole despite a remarkable break when her errant tee shot rolled over a small bridge instead of plunging into the creek that runs across the fairway. Diaz, in her third full year on Tour, was left with just a short punch shot, but hit it too firm and it rolled over the green. She had a tricky chip down the hill from the back of the green, left it 20 feet short and missed the par putt. Sörenstam, who won after trailing by 10 shots going into the final round last week, couldn't find any of the same magic on the Twelve Bridges Golf Club course. Though she drew a bigger gallery than the leaders, Sörenstam gave them nothing to cheer about as she missed a short birdie putt on the second hole, then three-putted the third. "That's when it hit me that it wasn't going my way," Sörenstam said. Sörenstam had hoped the tournament would go the full 72 holes after opening with a 73 that left her seven behind Pak. But after the second round was rained out on Friday, tournament officials said they were left with no alternative other than to shorten it to 54 holes. The way Sörenstam was playing, it wouldn't have made a difference. She came into the tournament with 18 of 21 rounds under par, but could only manage a single round of par in the hills west of Sacramento. "I just couldn't get it close today again," Sörenstam said. "It's been my dilemma ll week." |
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