Lopez wins LPGA tournament in Florida in 7-hole playoff

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Having already battled for five extra holes into darkness without producing a champion a day earlier, Gaby Lopez and Nasa Hataoka showed up to work at 8 a.m., just like regular folks.

The early wake-up call and extra golf was worth it for Lopez, who rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt to prevail on the seventh playoff hole Monday and capture the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.

It was the second LPGA title for Lopez, who 14 months ago became the second player from Mexico to win on tour, joining World Golf Hall of Fame member Lorena Ochoa. She earned $180,000 for the victory.

The elite field featured 26 players who had won tournaments in the last two seasons.

This was the LPGA’s fourth-longest playoff. The longest was 10 holes at the 1972 Corpus Christi Civitan Open, where Jo Ann Prentice beat Hall of Famers Sandra Palmer and Kathy Whitworth.

Lopez and Hataoka wound up playing the difficult 197yard 18th hole at Tranquilo Golf Club at Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club Orlando eight times over two days, with two birdies from Lopez the difference.

Lopez birdied from 18 feet on her final hole of regulation Sunday to earn a spot in the playoff alongside Hataoka and Inbee Park, who was eliminated on the third playoff hole.

Hataoka, who made a deft up-and-down from 30 yards for par to extend the playoff to a seventh hole as play resumed Monday, had the edge on the final hole after hitting a 4-hybrid that rode a slope along the right side of the green and curled to 12 feet from the hole.

But Lopez, whose ball barely made the putting surface, went first, her putt up the hill slowing and tumbling into the cup on its last rotation. Hataoka, ranked sixth in the world, made a poor stroke, pulling her birdie attempt left.

After a week of warm Florida weather, temperatures in the mid-40s greeted the women Monday and morning shadows covered the green as they returned to the 18th. The par 3 is long and tough, with a deep bunker in front and rocks and water guarding the left side of the green. Players require hybrids and fairway metals to reach the green. There were only six birdies total made on the hole all week; Lopez owned three of them.

Hataoka had enjoyed her week playing alongside athletes and celebrities — the 49-player celebrity division was won by pitcher and Hall of Famer John Smoltz. But the pressure amped up once the playoff began.