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WAIKOLOA, Hawaii >> Golf giveth, golf taketh away. Fujii has a forgettable final day
By Kalani Simpson
ksimpson@starbulletin.comKasumi Fujii played the round of her life Friday at the LPGA Takefuji Classic. In yesterday's final field, she did not.
Fujii, who shot a sizzling, career-best 61 to take the lead at 13-under heading into championship Saturday, played 2-over-par on her last day to relinquish it.
Her life was no longer charmed, her putter no longer magical.
There would be no miraculous surges of energy. No zone. The balls that somehow found their way into the cup on Friday, somehow stayed inches away yesterday.
And Fujii's fortunes dipped for good on No. 5, when she missed the green, then was penalized for mistakenly removing some bunker debris that had spilled into the path of her ball.
"I tried to stop her," said runner-up Lorie Kane, but the language barrier made Kane's efforts too little too late.
"The sand is gravel. It's very hard to determine what's rock and what's not rock," Kane said of the bunker material. Rocks are movable under tournament rules. Bunker sand is not. But the bunkers at Waikoloa are a little unusual. "It's all rock," Kane said. "What determines rock and pebble? It's just really too bad."
"She didn't really know what was going on," winner Annika Sorenstam said.
Two strokes. Fujii pitched to the fringe, and two-putted. With the penalty, a triple bogey. And on the same hole where Kane sank a 30-footer to steal the lead. Fujii was out of first place, and for good.
"She had an eagle opportunity, and suddenly she walks away with a 6," said Sorenstam sympathetically.
Fujii rallied to birdie at 9 and 10 to get within two of Kane, who was leading at 13-under, but got no closer to first place the rest of the day.
A sponsor's exemption by the host Takefuji Corporation, she finished fifth, earning $37,125.
And afterward, she was all smiles again.
Money, money: Sorenstam claims $135,000 of the $900,000 purse, not a bad score for three days' work. Kane takes home $82,000, while Heather Bowie and Gloria Park, tied for third with twin 65 scorecards, nabbed $52,875 each.
Bowie and Park made big moves to advance into the big money, each shooting 5-under to make late runs at contention. Bowie's surge was most dramatic, birdieing on 13, 15, 17 and 18.
A mad grab: You might have seen Sorenstam gasp on TV immediately after throwing her ball into the crowd after her sudden death playoff putt on 18.
A man went for the souvenir and "fell over on the rake," Sorenstam said. "He looked pretty funny. But he's OK, because I signed the ball and he didn't have a bruised lip or anything."
Wie watch: Honolulu's Michelle Wie, who spent the first two days as a competitor, spent yesterday outside the ropes, watching from the gallery that followed the previous day's three leaders.
Wie, 12, said after bowing out the day before that Sorenstam was one of her favorite LPGA players.