Michelle Wie won her first LPGA Tour title, fulfilling the promise of a decade with a 3-under 69 Sunday for a two-stroke victory over Paula Creamer in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational at Guadalajara, Mexico.
Wie finished off the victory in style, hitting a greenside bunker shot to 6 inches on the 18th hole and then tapping in for a birdie.
The 20-year-old Wie raised both arms in the air — her putter in her right hand — and then put her hand over her mouth. After pulling the ball out of the hole, she turned to the gallery, looked to the sky and let out a large sigh of relief.
Morgan Pressel (67), Jiyai Shin (71) and Cristie Kerr (72) were three back. Wie finished at 13-under 275 after starting the day at the Guadalajara Country Club tied for the lead with Kerr at 10 under.
Wie first qualified for a USGA event at age 10 and played an LPGA event when she was 12. She joined the LPGA this season and has begun to show the sizzling game that has made her arguably the biggest attraction in women's golf.The LPGA, battered by economic problems and the forced resignation of its commissioner this summer, needs this as much as Wie.
"Literally, when Michelle Wie is atop the leaderboard it's like night and day and that's star power," LPGA spokesman David Higdon said the day before Wie's win. "That's all it is. This is somebody people want to follow. You see it in her presence, the way she walks around. The way people talk to her."
Australian Masters — Tiger Woods won the Australian Masters for his seventh victory of the year, closing with a 4-under 68 for a victory that record crowds at Kingston Heath came to see.
In his first trip Down Under in 11 years, Woods put on quite a show for his $3 million appearance fee.
He pulled away from a three-way tie for the lead with three birdies on his opening six holes, then seized control with a tee shot that covered the flag and stopped 6 feet away for birdie on the 15th.
Woods has won 82 times around the world in 13 countries.
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