StarBulletin.com

Legends can't keep up with Jones


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POSTED: Monday, October 26, 2009

It wasn't Las Vegas, but Rosie Jones and her lucky sevens were enough to capture the inaugural Kinoshita Pearl Classic yesterday at Kapolei Golf Course.

The seventh child in her family, Jones had a feeling it'd be a special tournament when she was assigned locker number seven. She fired a 2-under 70 yesterday to finish at, you guessed it, 7 under, outlasting first-round leader Colleen Walker by four shots to win the $50,000 first-place check.

Jones followed an opening-round 67 with a 70 in windy conditions to claim her third win on the Legends Tour.

“;Today, with a five-shot lead, I was very comfortable,”; said Jones, whose career includes 13 LPGA Tour victories. “;I have never had (a five-shot lead on 18) before. That's the best way to win.”;

She entered the final round trailing Walker by a stroke and both got off to slow starts. Walker bogeyed the third and both had bogeys on No. 4 to fall to 4 under, opening the door for those farther down the leaderboard, like Kris Tschetter, to maybe sneak into contention.

Tschetter got within three shots of the lead, but wound up finishing in a tie for third with Nancy Scranton at 2 under.

Nobody was going to catch Jones, who composed herself and rattled off birdies on No. 7 and No. 9 to take a two-shot lead.

“;I was playing really steady golf and birdied the ninth hole, and I think that gave me a lot of confidence right there,”; Jones said.

Walker, who owned the back nine with four birdies en route to her tournament-low 66 Saturday that won her a $2,000 check, couldn't conjure up a repeat performance. A bogey on No. 12 pushed her three shots back, and on No. 14, both women had similar putts for birdie.

Walker went first and pushed hers to the left, and then watched Jones calmly sink hers to move to 7 under for the tournament.

“;I just made everything I looked at yesterday and today. That's golf, you never know,”; Walker said. “;When they go in, you take it, and when they don't go in you just keep trucking along and see if you can make the next one.”;

Walker dropped another shot on No. 15, but salvaged a 3-over 75 by draining a long downhill birdie putt on 18 that she punctuated with a Tiger Woods-like fist pump.

“;It was wonderful,”; she said. “;Made my day.”;

Meanwhile Jones, who celebrated with a mini hula dance, rolled off four straight pars to tie for the day's low round with a 70.

“;The golf course was playing a little tougher today and I felt pretty comfortable with that,”; she said. “;I just played conservative on the back nine and tried to capitalize on some wedge shots.”;

Elaine Crosby and Barb Mucha finished at 1 under in a tie for fifth, joining the other four as the only golfers to finish under par.

Pat Bradley, an LPGA Hall of Famer with 31 career victories on tour, led a group of three at 1-over for a top-10 finish.