Kerr collects another win in Michelob Ultra Open
POSTED: Monday, May 11, 2009
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. >> Cristie Kerr stood in the fairway on the par-5 15th hole knowing it was time to make her move. Calmed by a few deep breaths as part of her recent attention to mental training, she used her 3-wood to send the ball soaring toward the green.
RISING UP
Cristie Kerr moved up to second on the player of the year standings: PLAYER POINTS
1. Lorena Ochoa 78
2. Cristie Kerr 72
3. Brittany Lincicome 60
4. Angela Stanford 47
5. Jiyai Shin 42
Also
T19. Michelle Wie 13
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. Jiyai Shin 380
2. Michelle Wie 185
3. Vicky Hurst 128
4. Mika Miyazato 99
5. Shiho Oyama 82
Source: lpga.com
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“;Come on, be right! Come on!”; she pleaded as the ball headed toward the green, bounced on and then rolled slightly off the back, leaving her a puttable ball 45 feet from the hole.
From there, she made it look easy, two-putting for a birdie that lifted her out of a four-way tie for the lead and on the way to her second victory in the Michelob Ultra Open.
“;I knew at the time where I stood, and I knew that that was a must,”; she said of her decision to go for the green at No. 15 for the first time in four rounds at Kingsmill.
Kerr closed with a 1-under 70 to finish at 16-under 268. She opened with rounds of 69, 63 and 66. In-Kyung Kim was second at 14 under after a 71, and Song-Hee Kim (71) and Lindsey Wright (73) tied for third at 13 under.
Honolulu's Michelle Wie shot a final-round 69 for a four-day total of 5-under 279. She tied for 15th, two trokes out of the top 10.
Wie earned $29,073 and will play this week at the $2 million Sybase Classic in New Jersey.
The victory was Kerr's 12th on tour, and her execution on the critical hole was the difference. Her birdie came just after leader Song-Hee Kim made double bogey at the difficult 16th, and when In-Kyung Kim and Wright followed shortly thereafter by also making bogeys, Kerr emerged as the player to beat from a four-way battle for the lead.
A testy 6-foot par putt at the par-4 16th and two uneventful pars later, Kerr was collecting the $330,000 winner's check, and begging for the tournament to return next season.
All week long, it had been played under a dark cloud of speculation that Anheuser-Busch, which owns the resort and sponsors the event, will not renew its contract.
“;I'll bring a sponsor myself if I have to,”; she joked in interviews later.
And why not?
Kerr, who also won in 2005, has earned nearly $1 million in the seven years that Kingsmill has been host to the event so popular among the players.
