Lewis captures HSBC Champs
Van der Walt wins maiden European Tour
SINGAPORE, March 3, (Agencies): American Stacy Lewis won the HSBC Women’s Champions on Sunday for her sixth career LPGA title, overcoming two bogeys and some shaky putting on the back nine to hold off South Korean Na Yeon Choi.
Lewis, the 2012 LPGA Player of the Year, shot a 1-under 71 in the final round at Sentosa Golf Club to finish at 15-under 273, one stroke ahead of Choi in second place.
“The last four or five holes, I was pretty nervous, I’m not going to lie,” Lewis said. “I just played hard and put my head down and tried to make as many putts as I could and fortunately I came away with the win.”
Choi, who had a 72, was runner-up at the $1.4 million tournament for the second consecutive year. She lost to Angela Stanford in a four-player playoff last year.
Paula Creamer, hampered by a shoul- der injury from a car accident last week in Thailand, briefly held a share of the lead early in the day, but struggled with her putting on the back nine and faded to third at 13-under 275.
Top-ranked Yani Tseng shot a 74 to finish a disappointing week in a share of 28th place.
Lewis started the day tied with Choi atop the leaderboard, but she was able to put some distance between herself and the second-ranked South Korean with a superb shot on the par-5 7th hole.
After a long drive off the tee, Lewis hit a perfectly placed, 200-yard shot toward the pin that stopped about five inches short of going in for an albatross. She tapped it in for eagle, which put her one clear of Choi and two up on Creamer.
“It was probably one of the best shots I’ve ever hit,” Lewis said. “It had to be pretty close. I couldn’t really tell from where I was but it was perfect.”
On the back nine, however, the 28year-old American had to battle nerves and a determined challenge by Choi to take home the trophy.
Leading by two shots on the 15th, Lewis hit her tee shot into the water for the second time this week and slammed her club into the turf in frustration. She took a bogey on the hole, allowing Choi to pull within one.
“I hit the fairway (on 15) in the practice rounds, but I did not hit it on any tournament day,” she said. “I had two in the water and two in the bunker.”
“Today I was just glad to get out of there with a bogey.”
Then, on the 17th, Lewis hit into the bunker off the tee and missed a long par putt to card her second bogey of the back nine.
That gave Choi one last chance to even the score on the 18th, but she pulled her birdie putt wide by an inch. Lewis exhaled deeply after making her own par putt for the win.
“I tried to do my best until the last hole,” Choi said. “Last year, I finished runner-up, too. I went into the playoff and lost. I really wanted to win this week.”
Lewis and Choi had their putting woes, but it was almost worse for the 26-yearold Creamer, who was aiming for her 10th LPGA title.
She missed a 20-footer for eagle on No. 12 by inches, covering her mouth in disbelief. Then she barely missed a 25foot birdie putt on No. 14 and started laughing. Two more near-misses followed on No. 15 and 16, which wiped the smile from her face.
“I had some good, long efforts and they just didn’t fall in. Sometimes it’s your day and sometimes it’s not,” she said.
Creamer never dreamed she’d be this close to the title after the car accident on the way to the airport in Bangkok after the LPGA Honda Thailand tournament last week.
In Pretoria, Dawie van der Walt won his first European Tour tournament Sunday by finishing two shots ahead of fellow South African Darren Fichardt in the Tshwane Open.
Van der Walt fired a five-under-par final round 67 for a total of 267 over the Ernie Els-designed Copperleaf Golf and Country Estate while Fichardt closed with a 69 on the 7,791-yard (7,124metre) layout.
A two-metre, 110-kilogram giant, Cape Town-born Van der Walt was one shot ahead of four-time European Tour winner Fichardt at the turn and extended it with a birdie at the par-five 15th on a hot, overcast afternoon.
Both title challengers parred the last three holes and Van der Walt collected a 237,750-euro ($310,690) cheque and a three-year exemption from qualifying for European Tour events.
New Zealand’s Michael Hendry beat Australian Scott Strange at the first hole of a playoff on Sunday to defend his New Zealand PGA golf title.
Hendry became the first player since compatriot Sir Bob Charles in 1980 to defend the title.
The 33-year-old Hendry shot a 5-under 67 while Strange finished with a 66 to be tied after 72 holes at 269, 19 under par. The pair then returned to the 18th where Strange found trouble at a greenside bunker, allowing Hendry to putt out for the title.
The pair exchanged the lead throughout Sunday’s final round before both parred the 18th to require a playoff.