Paula Creamer defied a thumb injury to claim her maiden major title. The Pink Panther had missed a big chunk of the season after an operation and was still in pain as she teed it up, but the old adage ‘Beware the injured golfer’ was never more apt as she trounced the field by four shots on a brutal Oakmont layout. Creamer ended the week on three-under-par, the only golfer in the field to end the week in red figures.
Na Yeon Choi charged through the field on the final day with a superb 66 to tie Norway’s Suzann Pettersen in second. Brittany Lincicome won the ShopRite LPGA Classic last month and followed that up with a third place finished the week after. What makes Lincicome interesting is that she likes and understands the challenge of a major.
Two years ago she told me that her length from the tee and strength hitting from rough was an advantage on long course with thick rough – an argument few have appreciated in recent years. She also has some unfinished business with the event having led the field after 54 holes in 2006, only to shoot a final round 78 and finish seventh.
The other big story of the week was the top ten finish of the then 15-year-old Lexi Thompson who, two weeks later, finished runner-up at the Evian Masters. One thing stands out in 2011: Yani Tseng has taken control of the ladies game. Post-Lorena Ochoa’s retirement the world number one ranking has been held by five different players and none looked too comfortable with the honour until Tseng reached the top spot.
But whilst others got to number one largely courtesy of season-long consistency, Tseng did so by specialising in major wins. Eventually she had so many she assumed the mantle of world number one. She now has four majors and, at 22 years of age, is the youngest man or woman to claim that total. She has won three of her last six major starts, finished runner-up in another and not finished outside the top 20 in that short sample.
