19歲的高爾夫球女將曾雅妮，在女子高球四大賽之一的LPGA錦標賽勇奪冠軍，曾雅妮也成為史上第一位在女子高球四大賽奪冠的台灣球員。(圖／美聯社)
2008/04/23 12:13
記者劉盈秀、張翊誌／台北報導
2008/06/09 10:23
體育中心／綜合報導
台灣體育健將再傳捷報！19歲的高球女將曾雅妮在女子高球四大賽之一的LPGA高球錦標賽，於延長賽中以一記6呎的博蒂推桿，摘下后冠，贏得大約新台幣900萬元的獎金。這是曾雅妮在美巡賽的第一座冠軍，她也成為史上第一位贏得女子職業高球四大賽冠軍的台灣球員。
曾雅妮在冠軍延長賽第四洞，面對的是一個6呎的博蒂推桿，結果曾雅妮相當鎮靜地一推進洞。曾雅妮她的第一個冠軍，就是四大賽冠軍！
事實上，曾雅妮在前三輪還落後領先者有4桿之多，不過最後一回合她打出68桿的佳績，最後以低於標準桿12桿的276桿，和瑞典選手裘爾絲並列第一，兩人進入延長加賽，在延長賽第四洞，曾雅妮第二桿漂亮的ON上果嶺，距離洞口只有6呎左右。
曾雅妮最後不慌不忙，平穩推進這個博蒂，贏得最後的冠軍。曾雅妮興奮地接過冠軍獎盃，她也贏得大約新台幣900萬元的冠軍獎金，這是曾雅妮第一座美巡賽冠軍，她也成為自1998年南韓朴世莉之後，第一位新秀贏得四大賽的球員，而且她以19歲的年齡摘下后座，是LPGA史上第二年輕的冠軍球員，對台灣而言，她更是第一位贏得四大賽冠軍的台灣球員，真是十足的台灣之光。
Golf-Rookie Tseng makes name for herself with LPGA triumph
Tseng said she hoped there would be a Sunday celebration.
"I hope they give me a big party," she said. "But it’s sad that I can’t drink. I can’t have a beer when I have a party."
The drinking age in Maryland is 21.
The victory also ensured Tseng became the first Taiwanese golfer to win a major.
Chen Tze-Chung nearly earned that distinction at the 1985 men’s U.S. Open before he double-hit a chip shot and was penalised on his way to a quadruple-bogey in the final round. He finished one shot behind winner Andy North.
Tseng said she was friendly with Chen, who gave her advice when they met at a practice facility.
The LPGA Championship winner said she only recently learned about Chen’s mishap, when she saw highlights on television.
"Last week I just saw the missed double chip," she said. "I couldn’t believe it. That’s not really a hard shot.
"After I watched I told my coach...’Oh, I know maybe why he chipped a double chip. His technique maybe gives a lot of chance to make a double chip.’"
Rookie Tseng is second-youngest LPGA major winner
Havre de Grace, MD (Sports Network) - Yani Tseng, a 19-year-old rookie from Taiwan, made a birdie on the fourth playoff hole Sunday to defeat Maria Hjorth at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship.
Tseng became the second-youngest woman to win a major championship and the first from Taiwan, the latter feat something she said has been a dream.
"Dreams come true," said Tseng.
She knocked a 175-yard approach shot to six feet at the 18th green, then rolled in the birdie putt to end the marathon sudden-death playoff.
Hjorth had three putts to win in the span of about 30 minutes -- one in regulation, two in the playoff -- but couldn’t hole any of them. She missed a 16-footer for birdie on what ended up being the last playoff hole.
"I gained a lot of experience," said Hjorth, a three-time LPGA Tour winner from Sweden.
Hjorth overcame a disastrous double-bogey at the 13th hole with back-to-back birdies at the 15th and 16th that gave her a one-shot lead on Tseng. But she missed a four-foot par putt at the 17th to fall into a tie, then missed a 12- footer for birdie at the 18th that would have given her the win.
She closed with a one-under 71 in the final round. Tseng fired a four-under 68 in hot, humid conditions at Bulle Rock to join her at 12-under-par 276 overall.
Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam both shot 71s on Sunday to finish one shot out of the playoff at 11-under 277.
Ochoa, the world No. 1 who was going for a third consecutive major championship, made birdies at the 16th and 18th holes for her share of third place. She was done in by back-to-back bogeys at the 12th and 13th holes.
There was talk that the Mexican star could be the first woman to win the Grand Slam this season.
"There’s nothing I can do now," said Ochoa. "I tried my best."
Sorenstam, the retiring world No. 2, had two birdies on the front nine and one bogey and eight pars on the back.
It was a steady, though unspectacular round -- one that could have been her last at the major she won three consecutive times from 2003-05.
"I’m very happy with the way I played, but obviously disappointed," said Sorenstam.
Tseng was anything but disappointed after the long day, which began with her 1:15 p.m. (et) tee time in a threesome that included Ochoa. It ended as twilight approached in Havre de Grace.
But the teenager was none the worse for wear.
After making four birdies on the front nine to join a mix of players vying for the lead -- including Sorenstam and Hjorth -- Tseng bogeyed the 13th hole to fall two shots back. She rebounded with an eight-foot birdie at the 14th and parred the rest of her holes to get in at 12-under.
Hjorth looked in control until she couldn’t find her errant drive at the 13th hole and was forced to walk back and re-tee. She ended up with a double-bogey to go from being one shot ahead of Sorenstam for the lead, to trailing her by a shot.
She was lucky to make the first of her back-to-back birdies after her second shot popped out of a water hazard in front of the 15th green and rolled onto the putting surface.
Hjorth’s missed par putt at the 17th was just the first of five squandered opportunities to remain in control of the tournament. After she missed her birdie putt at the 18th, she went on to miss birdie putts on each of the four playoff holes.
"I had four really good chance to make birdie," said Hjorth, who was also seeking her first major. "Unfortunately, none of them went in."
When Tseng finally ended the playoff with her six-foot birdie putt, she behaved as if she’d done it many times before -- not like the second-youngest woman to win a major (Morgan Pressel was 18 at last year’s Kraft Nabisco).
Nevermind that she’d never won any LPGA Tour event before, or that no player from Taiwan had ever won a major.
"That was my dream," said Tseng, who also claimed $300,000 for the win. "I told everyone, ’I’ll be the first to win a major (from Taiwan).’ And I did it."
06/08 20:33:36 ET
19-year-old rookie Tseng wins LPGA Championship
By DOUG FERGUSON – 2 hours ago
HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. (AP) — In her rookie year on the LPGA Tour, playing in only her third major championship, 19-year-old Yani Tseng felt lucky to become the youngest winner of the LPGA Championship on Sunday.
After the day she had at Bulle Rock, that was hardly the case.
First, she went 18 holes with Lorena Ochoa and closed with a 4-under 68 in searing heat, denying the No. 1 player in women’s golf a chance to win a third straight major. Then came a sudden-death playoff with Maria Hjorth that lasted four holes.
Tseng finished it off by choking down on a 6-iron out of the first cut of rough and hitting the perfect shot, the ball stopping 5 feet behind the hole for a birdie that made her the first rookie to win an LPGA major in 10 years.
"I can’t believe I just won a major," Tseng said. "Everything is coming so fast."
It felt like slow motion for Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam, both desperate for their own brand of history.
Ochoa, who only two days ago appeared to be sailing toward a third straight major, went 14 holes without a birdie. The drought ended on the 16th hole when a 20-yard pitch for eagle banged off the pin, and a birdie on the final hole only made it look close. She closed with a 71 and wound up one shot behind.
"It wasn’t my time," Ochoa said, showing more emotion than she had all week. "I am not ashamed. I’m proud of my finish. Now I move on and try to win the next few tournaments."
Sorenstam, trying to join Mickey Wright as the only four-time winner of the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, also closed with a 71 and could count more than a dozen putts on the weekend that she could have made. She twice missed inside 5 feet on par 5s in the final round, and she had a 15-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the 18th to get into the playoff.
It was weak and well short.
"It’s a tough time," Sorenstam said. "I was determined today, really this whole week. I felt like I could do it."
Hjorth appeared to have fate on her side when a fairway metal headed for the hazard instead ricocheted off the rocks in a creek and bounded across the green, turning bogey into birdie. Then she chipped in on the next hole for birdie and the lead.
She closed with a 71, and had 18-foot and 12-foot birdie putts to win in the playoff, both narrowly missing.
"I don’t think it’s really hit me, but I’m sure I’m going to be very, very tired pretty soon," Hjorth said. "But I’m very happy with the day. I played solid golf all day, and just very proud of myself for hanging in there."
Despite her age and inexperience, Tseng felt right at home in the playoff, which is all about match play. She won 19 times as an amateur, first gaining recognition in 2004 when she rallied to beat Michelle Wie — at a time when Wie was on top of her game — at the U.S. Women’s Public Links Amateur. A year later, Tseng beat Morgan Pressel in the North & South Amateur.
With power and poise, and a 6-iron she won’t soon forget, Tseng became the second-youngest winner of an LPGA major behind Pressel, who was 18 when she won the Kraft Nabisco Championship last year.
Tseng became the first rookie to win a major since Se Ri Pak, who won the LPGA Championship 10 years ago at age 20.
Playing the 18th hole for the third time in an hour, Tseng took her hand off the driver when it sailed to the right, taking a good hop out of the deep grass and into the first cut. Then came a 6-iron, drawing toward the flag.
"I wasn’t that nervous when I teed off," she said. "I just tell myself, ’Make this putt and win a major.’"
That was something T.C. Chen, her countryman and part-time mentor, failed to do in the 1985 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills, where he became infamous for a double-hit on a chip out of deep rough and wound up one shot behind Andy North.
"He always teach me something because I’m a rookie," Tseng said.
Tseng and Hjorth finished at 12-under 276.
Laura Diaz (70) was one birdie away from the lead throughout the back nine until a three-putt bogey on the 17th. She finished fifth. The Ochoa-Sorenstam duel on a searing hot day at Bulle Rock never developed. Instead, five players had a share of the lead at some point in the final round, and the back nine was up for grabs to the very end.
Ochoa opened with a 10-foot birdie and didn’t make another one until the par-4 16th.
She had eagle chances on consecutive holes, both times to get within one of the lead. But she three-putted for par from 45 feet on the 15th, and her eagle pitch from 20 yards lipped out on the 16th.
"I never lost the hope," she said. "I though something good was going to happen, that miracles exist. But it wasn’t my time."
Still, it was her seventh consecutive top 10 in a major.
Equally disappointed was Sorenstam, playing the LPGA Championship for the final time and applauding the fans walking up the 18th.
"I left a lot of shots out there," Sorenstam said. "I wish I could have converted one or two; it would have been enough. But I didn’t.
Both were part of the carnage on the 13th in which the top six on the leaderboard were a combined to play the toughest hole at Bulle Rock in 7-over par.
Sorenstam was the only player in the fairway, but she missed the green to the right, her chip ran over the cup and her 4-foot par putt never hit the hole. That ended a streak of 42 consecutive holes at Bulle Rock without a bogey.
Worse yet, she never made another birdie the rest of the way.
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