September 24 - 27, 2009 San Ramon Valley • Blackhawk CC |
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| You are here: Home > History > 2002 | ||
 2002 Champion Cristie Kerr |
2002 Kerr Captures First Tour Win at Longs Drugs Challenge Golf Today UK LINCOLN, Calif. -- Cristie Kerr is exactly where she thought she would be after skipping college to turn pro in 1996. It took her a lot longer than she expected, and was more than a bit unsightly Sunday, but that only made it more satisfying as the former junior star celebrated her first LPGA Tour victory. "I knew this was going to happen eventually,'' Kerr said after holding off South Korea's Hee-Won Han in the Longs Drugs Challenge. "It feels great, I worked really hard to get this. It was something my parents, and my sister and I dreamed about for a long, long time. This is for all their hard work. I would be nothing without them ... and my golf teacher, Michael Hunt". Kerr, in her sixth full season on the tour at age 24, squandered a five-stroke lead before taking advantage of Han's final-hole bogey for a one-stroke victory. Kerr finished with three straight pars for a 3-over-par 75 -- the highest closing round by a winner this season. After holing a short par putt on No. 18, she pumped her fist, then lowered her head and cried tears of joy. "I have never experienced anything more difficult than those last couple holes coming in,'' she said. "Being able to hold it together makes me happier than anything else.'' Kerr has come along way -- on and off the course -- since joining the tour as a brash teen-ager with high expectations. "This is a hard way to grow up, but I have learned so much about the person I'm becoming and I have changed so much,'' she said. ``I worked with a trainer and now work with a sport psychologist. I lost 50 pounds and I have done all the right things. Eventually I knew in time it would pay off.'' Kerr finished with an 8-under 280 total on the demanding Twelve Bridges course. Kerr needed an assist from Han, who shot a 70 and made a crucial mistake on No. 18, hooking her drive into the glove compartment of a golf cart. Han, who birdied the 16th to tie Kerr, got a free drop near the cart path following her errant drive on No. 18. Hitting out of walnut chips with a 4-iron, she put her second shot in the rough, 40 yards from the green. She barely reached the green with a sand wedge from the rough, then two-putted for bogey. "I was a little nervous, but I did not get upset,'' said Hon, last year's rookie of the year who had never finished better than a tie for 10th. "I tried to hit my drive farther and I pulled it left. I never expected to win because Cristie was at 10 under.'' Kerr was seemingly cruising until she hit into the hazard at the par-3 15th. After taking a penalty stroke, she chipped onto the green, then two-putted for a double- bogey. Kerr dropped two strokes on the front nine with bogeys on Nos. 5-7, and birdied No. 11 to reach 10 under. Heather Bowie (71) and 46-year-old Australian Jane Crafter (72) tied for third, two strokes back. South Koreans Mi Hyun Kim (73) and Grace Park (65) were four strokes back. Park's 65 was the best round of the tournament. "I didn't have any bad holes,'' Park said. ``The pin placements were more fair and there was less wind.'' Divots Kerr had two second-place finishes in 2000 and was third two times a year ago. ... Defending champion Se Ri Pak shot a 71 to tie for eighth at 286. ... Two-time Longs Drugs champ Juli Inkster finished with a 74 to match Pak at 2 under. |
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