Yi has plenty of faith, edges Pressel in playoff
The gallery was going wild. There was no question what had happened.
Eunjung Yi watched from the 17th tee and knew that Morgan Pressel, playing just ahead of her, had holed a lob wedge from 70 yards for eagle that had erased what had only a few holes earlier had been a 6-shot lead.
Rather than let her mind wander or allow herself to be distracted by all of the people cheering for Pressel, Yi shut everything out.
"I didn't think about her," she said. "I thought about my golf."
Yi recovered to roll in a 10-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat Pressel and capture her first LPGA Tour title Sunday in what might be the final Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic in Sylvania, Ohio.
Pressel, a runner-up for the second time in three years at the Farr, tipped her hat to the winner.
"She won the tournament," Pressel said. "She made a birdie on the playoff hole. I had my opportunities."
The 21-year-old Yi, the 2005 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links winner, began the day with a 4-shot lead. She birdied two of the first three holes to go up six shots. Yet she remained oblivious; she never looked at a leaderboard and didn't ask her caddie about her status.
"I was just focusing on my golf," she said. "I didn't see the scoreboards at all. I just hit the driver, the second shots - I was very centered."
Pressel, chasing her third career victory, pulled even by holing that wedge shot on the par-5 17th hole.
Yi, from South Korea, finished at 18-under 266 to earn the $210,000 first prize - more than she had earned in her previous 23 LPGA Tour starts combined. She had missed the cut in four of her seven starts this year and her biggest previous check was just over $11,000 for a 26th-place tie at the Corona Championship.
Yi closed with an even-par 71 and Pressel had a 67. Michelle Wie had a career-best 64 to tie for third at 16 under, but lost a chance to put extra pressure on the leaders when she misfired while going for the par-5 18th in two and had to settle for a par.
French Open: Martin Kaymer of Germany won the French Open by beating Lee Westwood of England in the first hole of a playoff.
The 2007 Rookie of the Year on the European Tour kept his composure in a dramatic finish on Sunday to clinch his third title after having missed chances on the last few holes.
Kaymer sank a putt from 18 feet on No. 18 at Le Golf National's Albatross Course in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to edge Ryder Cup star Westwood, who sent his approach shot into the water.