What’s the LPGA Kingsmill Championship without a sudden-death playoff?
For the second year in a row – and third time in the last five tournaments – extra golf was needed to decide a champion.
Not quite as drawn out as last year’s nine-hole epic between eventual champion Jiyai Shin and Paula Creamer, 35-year-old veteran Cristie Kerr outlasted young Norwegian talent Suzann Pettersen in a two-hole playoff to become the only three-time winner at Kingsmill in tournament history.
Playing alongside each other as the last pairing to tee off Sunday, Kerr, who led the field by two strokes at 10-under-par entering the final round, and Pettersen, who began the day at 8-under, matched each other shot-for-shot all afternoon before walking off the 18th hole tied at 12-under-par.
Both former Kingsmill champions – Kerr won in 2005 and 2009, Pettersen in 2007 – the two players then returned to the 18th tee box in front of a gallery of spectators.
On the first playoff hole, Kerr reached the par 4 18th green in two shots, which set her up with a makeable birdie putt for the win after Pettersen mis-hit her first two shots and had to settle for par.
But Kerr, who had been flawless with her putter to that point, rushed her seven-foot putt and pushed it right of the cup. Knowing that just blew a potentially costly opportunity, Kerr said her focus wasn’t rattled.
“It didn’t shake my confidence,” assured Kerr. “I probably made 12 15-footers [on Sunday]. Missing one is probably law of averages.”
“I was kind of disappointed that I wasn’t able to just close it outright there and because it was getting cold, and the monumental nine-hole playoff between Paula and Jiyai last year, I didn’t want that to happen, so it was good to get another chance.”
Kerr made the most of that chance by “roasting” her ensuing tee shot to start the second playoff.
Pettersen’s drive also split the fairway, but her approach soared past the green and onto the far fringe closest to the grandstands while Kerr’s approach landed on the green, about 20 yards off the pin.
It appeared that both were two strokes away from heading to a third playoff hole, but Petterson’s chip shot came up well short, leaving her with a sizeable putt to save par.
After Kerr rolled her birdie try to within a couple of feet, Petterson’s crucial par putt attempt from a little further than 10 yards out broke wide, giving Kerr another quality chance at her 16th career victory.
This time, she didn’t miss.
“I just wasn’t going to lose,” Kerr said. “Not today, not with my dad here.”
Kerr’s father, a middle school teacher from Kendall, Florida, had never seen his daughter win before on the professional tour.
After she sank the clinching putt, she exchanged hugs with her caddie and a few others, and then said, “Where’s my dad?”
“My dad’s been a schoolteacher for over 30 years and literally just retired in the last couple years,” Kerr said. “He’s had more time to travel and come out to tournaments, so this is a dream come true for the both of us.”
Michael Kerr agreed.
“I’ve been waiting for the last 17 years to watch her win a professional tournament,” said Cristie’s father, who last saw his daughter win an event while she was playing junior golf. “It’s like a dream come true. I can’t put it into words.”
The two-hole playoff capped off what was truly an entertaining and star-studded final round of golf.
At one point during the back nine, seven different players were within three strokes of one another, with Pettersen and Kerr leading the way at 11-under. Seventeen-year-old rising star Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand and Illhee Lee were a shot back at 10-under, and Angela Stanford was at 9-under while both Stacy Lewis and world No. 1 Inbee Park remained within striking distance at 8-under.
Jutanugarn surged her way up the top of the leaderboard with five birdies on the back nine to end with a 5-under 66 on Sunday, and third overall at 10-under for the tournament, marking her fourth top-five finish in as many tries on tour.
Lee carded a bogey-free round at 4-under 67, while Stanford finished at 9-under for the tournament after her par putt on 18 lipped out for a bogey. Lewis joined Stanford at 9-under while Park managed an 8-under despite struggling mightily on the greens all afternoon.
Pettersen took her first lead of the day with a birdie on hole 14 to move to 12-under after Kerr bogeyed.
On hole 16, the crowd roared following a huge birdie putt from Kerr, who responded with an emphatic fist pump, to move her even with Pettersen at 12-under.
Both Kerr and Pettersen would par 17 and 18 to set up the tournament’s second-straight sudden-death playoff.
“Can’t complain with how I played,” Pettersen said. “I had a chance to win outright on 18 in regulation and I hit a good putt. Obviously it’s disappointing to lose in the playoff, but there was a lot of good to take from it.”
Said Kerr in summing up her 16th career victory, “Really hard fought, really hard fought.
“I made so many putts out there to save par and save any momentum. I’m just so thrilled.”
Kerr added that she hopes the tournament can find a sponsor for next year, and joked that she may have to take matters into her own hands.
“If I put all the money that I’ve won in this tournament together, maybe,” Kerr said laughing. “This tournament deserves to be here and it deserves to be on our schedule. It deserves to be a premier event and it is on my mind obviously.
“Everybody loves this course. It would be great if we could get another sponsor to step up.”
