While golfers around the world watched Tiger Woods carry all four rounds of the British Open, Scottish sensation Janice Moodie was attempting a similar phenomenon. Moodie led the Women’s Open through three spectacular rounds but her conclusion was not the same.
Her “Tigeresque” move fell short and Moodie slipped into a tie for sixth place. Instead a rookie took Moodie’s place atop the leaderboard. South Korean Meena Lee, who has skirted victory on the LPGA tour this year grabbed her own “claret jug” at the Open. Lee sealed the deal firing a 3-under 69 to grab the victory away from the dejected Scot.
Although Lee claimed the eventual win, two bogeys at the 14th and 15th holes dropped her into a four-way tie atop the leaderboard. A “recovery” eight-foot birdie putt on the 16th closed out the competition for the young South Korean.
This is Meena Lee’s rookie year but her 2005 earnings show more of a seasoned professional than a beginner. With fifteen starts this season, two top-ten finishes and her first victory, the 24-year-old is making waves in the LPGA. Meena Lee is currently thirteenth on the ADT Money List with almost $449K in earnings although with a win this week her earnings jump to almost $650K.
After a back-and-forth battle with Jimin Kang at the Corning Classic Meena fell into a tie for second place with Annika Sorenstam. Lee smelled victory again recently at the inaugural HSBC Match Play Championship but 60th seed Marisa Baena claimed the $500K first prize leaving Lee with another second place finish.
Meena Lee also gets a little closer to the coveted Rolex Rookie of the Year Award. Paula Creamer has been a shoo-in to date with about 500 points more than Lee who is in fifth place but the standings will most certainly change after Meena’s terrific come-from-behind victory today.
Australian Katherine Hull surprised even herself today with a solo second place finish at the Open. Playing in fourteen tournaments this year Hull has zero top-ten finishes and a paltry $35,661 in earnings. Hull made back-to-back bogeys early in the round negating her two earlier birdies to score even par but came in with a finishing birdie at 18 to secure 3-under par and a paycheck which tops her earnings for the entire year.
Leta Lindley tied for third place after an “almost” bogey-free round. She scored her only bogey at the 18th. Brittany Lang showed potential tying for sixth place with Janice Moodie and scoring an impressive eagle at 18. Since turning pro two weeks ago, Lang is starting to feel confident and it shows. On the flip side Janice Moodie went out with a double-bogey on 18.
Christina Kim (72) tied for 11th and made eagle at the par-5 14th. Meg Mallon (69) tied for 16th with her only round in the 60’s all week.
Canadians could not win on their own soil this week. Tied for 27th place the top two Canadians, Lorie Kane (69) and Dawn Coe-Jones (70), finished ten strokes behind Lee. With BMO Financial ending their five-year run as the main tournament sponsor, this could be the end of the Canadian Women’s Open. Only two of the top thirty money list golfers showed up this week instead flying over to Europe for a Wednesday start date at the Evian Masters in France and the British Open the following week. Tournament director Sean Van Kesteren feels that a better date is needed for the Canadian Women’s Open to survive.
Pos Player Today Tot R1 R2 R3 R4 1 Meena Lee -3 -9 73 68 69 69 2 Katherine Hull -3 -8 72 70 69 69 T3 Leta Lindley -4 -7 71 71 71 68 T3 Il Mi Chung E -7 69 68 72 72 T3 Angela Stanford +1 -7 69 69 70 73 T6 Johanna Head -4 -6 69 71 74 68 T6 Brittany Lang -4 -6 69 73 72 68 T6 Dorothy Delasin +1 -6 71 69 69 73 T6 Janice Moodie +3 -6 66 69 72 75 10 Emily Bastel E -5 67 74 70 72