‘WINNING IS EVERYTHING’
Michelle Wie drains the winning putt from off the green on 18 — cueing some Tiger-esque body language — to hold off Brooke Henderson at the Women’s World Championship,
“There is no better feeling than when you think you sink that winning putt. It's a high, for sure.” MICHELLE WIE
SINGAPORE— Michelle Wie holed a 36-foot putt from off the green on the final hole to win the Women’s World Championship by one stroke on Sunday while Canada’s Brooke Henderson tied for second.
Wie captured her first LPGA tournament since the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open.
With four players in contention to win on the last hole, Wie managed to separate herself from the pack when she drained her lengthy birdie putt on the 72nd hole at the Sentosa Golf Club for a final round of 7-under 65 to finish at 17-under 271.
Henderson, of Smiths Falls, Ont., finished at 16-under alongside South Korea’s Jenny Shin and Americans Danielle Kang and Nelly Korda.
The 28-year-old Wie, who led the tournament after three rounds a year ago before fading on the last day, leaped into the air and clenched her fist in celebration as the ball disappeared into the bottom of the cup.
But she still faced an anxious wait before being declared the champion.
“Winning is everything. I mean, there is no better feeling than when you think you sink that winning putt. It’s a high, for sure,” Wie said.
“You go out there, and it’s this feeling that gets you going. It’s this feeling that makes you practice. It’s that winning putt that makes you practice for hours and hours and hours, and even the hard times, it gets you going back. You know that good feeling is on the other side.”
Third-round leader Korda parred her last eight holes in a row. The 19-year-old, who only joined the LPGA Tour last year, hit a superb approach into the 18th to set up a birdie opportunity that would have forced a playoff, but missed her 8-foot putt and settled for a finalround 71.
“I had a bunch of putts that were really close and a lot of them lipped and burned edges. It definitely hurts, but that’s golf,” Korda said.
“There’s going to be another tournament. There’s going to be another feeling like this.”
Kang, last year’s Singapore winner, parred her last 14 holes and was unable to drain a longer birdie putt on the last to miss out on a playoff as she closed with a 70. Shin closed with a 65 and Henderson 67.
“I couldn’t capitalize on those holes, which was kind of disappointing,” Kang said. “But other than that, struck the ball well and I hung in there. So she (Wie) dropped the bomb on the last. I heard it from a hole back.”
Shin held the outright lead when she teed off at the last after reeling off eight birdies between the sixth and 16th holes, but she dropped back to 16-under when she made her only bogey of the day on the final hole.
“The nerves got me, maybe,” Shin said. “Not sure if I would have made that mistake on many other holes. Oh, well.”