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5-11-09
MONDAY ROUND-UP
Henrik Stenson’s name is making the news again, but this time it’s not because he stripped down to his boxers to play a wayward shot that landed in muck. Stenson fired a bogey-free 66 on Sunday and earned a blowout victory at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Trailing by five shots going into the final round, Stenson took advantage of a collapse by Alex Cejka and pulled away on the back nine, making four birdies. He finished four shots ahead of Ian Poulter, who had his best finish on the PGA Tour. Stenson finished at 12-under 276 (68-69-73-66) and earned $1.71 million. Cejka closed with a 79 and tied for ninth at 4-under 284 (66-67-72-79).
“It’s obviously a great feeling to have won this championship, and it’s a golf course I really enjoy playing,” Stenson said. “It suits my eye, suits my game, and I just handled myself very well throughout these four days, putted well and (gave) myself plenty of chances and stayed very level headed.”
Madison’s Steve Stricker tied for 22nd at 2-under 286 (71-71-71-73). He earned $79,325. Wisconsin native Mark Wilson tied for 55th at 3-over 291 (69-72-75-75) and earned $21,470. Madison’s Jerry Kelly, who two weeks ago earned his first PGA Tour victory in seven years, failed to make the cut.
When her final putt dropped into the 72nd hole of Kingsmill Resort & Spa’s River course Sunday, 12-time LPGA Tour winner Cristie Kerr became the first two-time champion of the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill. Kerr used a final round 1-under-par 70 to finish at 16-under 268.
On a day that began with co-leaders and only a two-stroke margin between the top four players on the leaderboard, the final round stayed pretty close for the first 16 holes. On No. 16, Kerr was the only player of the final two pairings who managed to save par on the par-4, 405-yard hole, and that turned out to be the final break she needed to claim the $330,000 winner’s check.
“It was pretty tight all the way through there, you know, until the last couple of holes, and I just tried to play my own game,” Kerr said. “I tried to be good mentally on every shot, and the momentum kind of swung in my favor when I birdied 15, and held par on 16.”
Finishing two strokes back from Kerr was runner-up In-Kyung Kim. Kim finished the week at 14-under 270 and picked up her second runner-up finish in her three-year LPGA Tour career and her second top-10 finish of 2009.
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