Million dollar baby. That’s what everyone is calling 18-year-old Paula Creamer after easily taking home her second trophy on the LPGA Tour this week at the Evian Masters in France. Creamer took the lead in the second round and never gave an inch. By the third round most of the competitors struggled to keep pace with the rookie. Young Creamer had built an impressive seven-stroke lead heading into the final round.
Her final round was just as spectacular as Creamer carded a 1-under 71 to finish eight shots ahead of her two nearest competitors, Michelle Wie and Lorena Ochoa.
With her victory at the Evian Masters Paula Creamer was handed a check for $375,000 (the third largest first-place check this season) and a beautiful and heavy-looking silver trophy. She is now the youngest millionaire in LPGA Tour history and the quickest player to earn $1 million in her career breaking Karrie Webb’s record of ten months, ten days.
Paula Creamer made a list of things-to-do in 2005. Among those things that she related to the press was to gain a spot on the Solheim Cup team and win the Rolex Rookie of the Year Award. The press chuckled loudly when she read those goals aloud. Nobody’s laughing now except Paula.
Impressively winning two tournaments in her rookie season, Creamer has also finished in second place at the Wegmans Rochester LPGA Classic and tied for third at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship.
When asked about how special this win was for Creamer she responded, “This is unbelievable. I can’t tell you which one was better (referring to her first win at the Sybase Classic). Obviously the first win is very important, but just the strength of the field here, the Evian Masters, I think the whole ensemble of everything is huge. This is one of the biggest tournaments and purses that we have. I think that that means an awful lot and it is incredibly exciting. I have never been over here before and it is a good feeling. I will be back.”
With twenty-two birdies this week Creamer pretty much held the tournament in her back pocket after three rounds. After realizing she couldn’t be caught, Paula found herself cruising through the final twelve holes placing eleven pars and a birdie on her scorecard.
“I was feeling it, but I was also just trying to get it done” said the young sensation from Bradenton, FL.
Wie, Wie, Wie
Several of the other top names on the LPGA are a little upset over their inability to get the job done at this limited field event.
First of all, what happened to amateur phenomenon Michelle Wie? While 18-year-old Creamer is winning events Michelle seems to be faltering. Wie comes close to victory and has finished runner-up in three out of six events this year on the LPGA Tour but isn’t closing the deal yet. Although she rebounded well after a first round of 75, Wie didn’t start coming on strong until the third round but by then Creamer was way ahead of the rest of the field.
“I just left so many shots out there,” said Wie, “I couldn’t count how many putts I missed. It’s pretty frustrating, but otherwise I’m pretty happy with the way I hit it. I came back yesterday and today and I felt like I improved.”
Fifteen-year-old Wie (68) had a good day finishing in a tie for second place with Lorena Ochoa which is similar to her final round scoring at other events like the U.S. Women’s Open. After beginning the day in a three-way tie for the lead Wie choked with a double-bogey on her first hole and could not recover from it.
The same applies in her bid to win the second major championship of the year, the McDonald’s LPGA Championship. Experienced prevailed as Annika Sorenstam laid claim to the trophy and title even though her performance was far from stellar.
When asked by the press when Wie plans to turn professional she responded, “I really don’t know.” They prodded her to make a commitment but her response remained the same, “I really don’t know.” Wie may just be remaining hush about her plans or perhaps she just wants to get her SAT’s over with next fall but we’ll find out as soon as she decides.
Perhaps Wie is too busy challenging men on the PGA Tour to commit herself to the rigors of the LPGA Tour? Once she decides to settle down and conquer one of the tours the 15-year-old could become a formidable opponent. Give her time…she’s still only fifteen!
Lorena Ochoa’s second place finish topped her performance last year when she came in third. Carding a 69 Ochoa had an up-and-down day starting her round with a birdie but mingling in bogeys throughout the day. Her tie with Wie gave Lorena a nice check of $246,064. Wie received nothing due to her amateur status.
Where in the world is Annika Sorenstam? Another week of being out of contention Sorenstam finished the Evian with a devastating 3-under 75 to drop her into solo twelfth place. After coming off a two-week rest and receiving yet another ESPY for Female Athlete of the Year Annika was slow to make a move. With only one round under par this week Annika better start working on her game or the young guns of the LPGA Tour will dethrone her on the money list and at the 2006 ESPY Awards!
ADT Money List Change
It’s hard to dethrone Annika Sorenstam so she remains as the leader on the ADT Official Money List. However with her second place finish this week Mexican sensation Lorena Ochoa slides into second overtaking Cristie Kerr and crossing the $1 million mark. Young Paula Creamer has also leapfrogged over Cristie taking third place with her Evian victory this week.
An even bigger jump was evident for Meena Lee who recently won at the Canadian Women’s Open and grabbed a second place check at the Women’s World Match-Play Championship. Her fifth-place finish at the Evian Masters propelled her from forty-fifth place to the top-five on the money list. With a top-five finish in three of her last four events on tour watch Meena gain ground with several months left to play on tour.
And a bit of good news at the Evian Masters from Iben Tinning. With a four-iron at the 14th hole Tinning made a hole-in-one from 196 yards. Her prize was a gold bar worth about $13,600. More importantly (and probably never going to happen but who knows) any member of the LPGA to record three holes-in-one this season will receive a lump sum of $300,000 as part of a bonus program set up by Shick Intuition. There have been 15 solo aces but no player has made two this year.
Pos Player Today Tot R1 R2 R3 R4 1 Paula Creamer -1 -15 68 68 66 71 T2 Michelle Wie (a) -4 -7 75 70 68 68 T2 Lorena Ochoa -3 -7 71 69 72 69 4 Lorie Kane -1 -6 71 74 66 71 T5 Helen Alfredsson -7 -5 74 72 72 65 T5 Maria Hjorth -4 -5 69 72 74 68 T5 Carin Koch -2 -5 66 73 74 70 T5 Meena Lee -2 -5 71 74 68 70 T5 Christina Kim E -5 68 68 75 72 T5 Karine Icher +2 -5 71 70 68 74
Photo Credit: © AP Photo.
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