Rookie Hur Seizes First LPGA Win
By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter
Hur Mi-jung captured her first LPGA victory at the Safeway Classic in a playoff, Sunday at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore.
Hur hit 69 in each of the first two rounds, but shot a final-round 65, while Suzann Pettersen of Norway and veteran Michele Redman each shot a 67 to finish at 13-under 203 and set up the playoff.
Redman was knocked out after missing a short putt for par on the first playoff hole, the par-4 No. 18.
The South Korean rookie made a 6-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole, to end Pettersen's hopes for her first victory in two years.
Hur gently raised her fist, hugged Pettersen, then ran from fellow Korean player Kang Hae-ji, who chased her down the 17th fairway with a bottle of champagne. Kang finally caught her for a celebratory dousing.
Hur surprised the golf world with the victory, as she is relatively unknown, even to her fellow players. Hur had made the cut just six times in 13 previous tournaments this season, and never finished in the top 10.
``It was my goal this year (to win) because I was working really hard last winter training with my swing coach,'' LPGA.com reported Hur as saying. ``It makes me really, really happy. It helped me a lot.''
``I want to become rookie of the year, but it may be hard because Shin Ji-yai has done well. I will do my best at the tournaments left.''
``I mean, I finished yesterday feeling I was really low out there, and I played really good today,'' said Pettersen. ``It was a blend of chances, I made a lot of good putts, so I got a nice streak there on nine, 10, 11, 12, and just an unforced error on 15 (double-bogey). Don't ask me what happened there. I had my chance on the first playoff hole, just made a poor putt and she (Hur) made a great putt.''
``I hit two really good putts,'' said Redman. ``It was a good putt on 18, it just hit something. I hit what I thought was a really good putt, but it just didn't go in the hole.''
Hur had been a member of national team for two years from 2005, and won the Queen Sirikit's Cup as a member of team South Korea in 2006. The Thailand Ladies Golf Association began hosting the inaugural championship at Navatanee Golf Course in February 1979 with the participation of national teams from nine countries.
The Queen Sirikit Cup is recognized as the official ladies' tournament in the Asia-Pacific region.
Last year, she moved to the LPGA Futures Tour ― a developmental golf tour for the LPGA ― and ranked fourth on the money list. She made her debut in the LPGA this year.
The Woo Song University student earned $255,000 (318 million won) in prize money. It's the seventh victory so far this year by a South Korean golfer on the LPGA ― that includes the U.S. Women's Open, which Ji Eun-hee claimed in July.
Korean women have clinched 80 victories since Ku Ok-hee won at the Standard Register Turquoise Classic with 7-under 281 in May, 1988.
Meanwhile, Michelle Wie, who helped the United States win the Solheim Cup against the European team a week ago, tied for fourth with an 11-under 205, two shots behind Hur.
``I practiced a lot. That's why I had a good score in this tournament,'' Wie said.
Lee Seon-hwa, who was tied for second, one shot behind Anna Nordqvist, at the end of the second round, shared fourth with Wie.