Lateral Hazard: Tiger Woods owns Sergio Garcia once again, wins The Players Championship

     Brian Murphy May 13, 2013 12:06 AMYahoo Sports


    There's a phrase that describes Sergio Garcia's two balls into the water at the 17th hole at The Players Championship, just as he was tied with Tiger Woods after 70 holes, on the same weekend in which he engaged in some venomous woofing with Tiger, and that phrase is:



    Career-defining.

    The Sergio who rinsed two balls en route to a quadruple-bogey seven on Sawgrass' 17th hole is the same Sergio who has zero career major championships to Tiger's 14; who has eight career wins in 251 PGA Tour starts to Tiger's 78 wins in 300 starts; who has now been schooled by Tiger seven of seven times when paired together on a weekend. 

    Make no mistake, there have been glorious moments in El Nino's career: stirring Ryder Cup performances, and a Players Championship among them.

    Tiger Woods gives a thumbs-up after winning The Players Championship. (AP)




    But after his double-rinse job on No. 17 Sunday afternoon, when both he and Tiger were 13-under on the leaderboard, you have to start wondering: Has any athlete in history been so thoroughly dominated by another in parallel career paths?

    Tiger's decimation of Sergio in both wins and glory, and especially in psychological terms, has been something singular to behold. Even two other foils of Tiger's – Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els – have broken through to stake some turf, with Lefty winning four majors in the post-2000 Tiger Era, and the Big Easy taking two (the 2002 British Open, and 2012 British Open).

    That this all took place on the weekend where Sergio and Tiger aired their dirty laundry made Sergio's crushing fall almost poetic.

    By now, you heard the tale of Saturday's third round, in which Sergio claimed Tiger pulled a club from his bag just as Sergio's backswing peaked, causing a crowd roar that Sergio blamed for his poor shot. And Sergio revived all the old memories – the over-celebration at Bighorn in 2000, the complaints about Tiger getting breaks at the 2002 U.S. Open – when he told the media he blamed Tiger for the breach of etiquette. And surely you heard Tiger fire back, dryly: "Not surprising he's complaining about something." And surely you heard Sergio say on Saturday night: "At least I'm true to myself … he's not my favorite guy on Tour … he's not the nicest guy on Tour … we don't enjoy each other's company."

    [Related video: Sergio says he has no regrets from Sunday]

    Gossip! Sergio and Tiger go public with mutual hatred! And to have them tied after the third round, playing for the richest purse on Tour! In his Ponte Vedra office, Tim Finchem cackled, rubbed his hands together and said to his secretary: "Get me NBC on the phone … tell them 'The Ratings Meister' is calling."

    It was perfect that they were dueling on the day we all celebrate maternity, too – since each player's favorite word for the other includes the word "mother."

    So the stage was set for Sergio to come through, to do something. He'd overcome a slump from 2009-11 and won last year for the first time since the '08 Players. He'd logged six top-20s this year entering Sawgrass. And now he was essentially calling out Tiger, doing everything short of challenging him to a fight after eighth-grade algebra class behind the faculty parking lot.



    Sergio Garcia reacts as his tee shot on the 17th hole goes into the water. (AP)


    Tiger was in the penultimate pairing; Sergio in the final pairing. Sergio would have the red shirt within his eyesight all day Sunday. And when Tiger, stunningly, snap-hooked his tee shot on 14 into the water for a double bogey, watching his two-shot lead evaporate, Sergio seemed imbued with strength. He walked with a pace, birdied 16 and came to the 17th tee all knotted up on the leaderboard with his mortal enemy.

    And then … splash. And splash again. And a career's worth of doubt in the face of Tiger, inadequacy in the face of Tiger, lameness in the face of Tiger came rushing back. Just like that.

    Put another way, he'd rolled into the Sawgrass parking lot Sunday morning blasting Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down" at full volume. He then rolled out of the Sawgrass parking lot late Sunday evening with the words 'JUST SHAMED' soaped across his rear window.

    Afterward, he tried to sound philosophical, spending a generous amount of time with the media. Sergio said he under-hit it, overestimated his adrenaline, and "that hole has been good to me. Today, it wasn't. It's the way it is."

    [Related: Sergio Garcia splashes two balls on Sawgrass' famed No. 17]

    But as the session with the media wore on, Sergio admitted his Saturday evening nyah-nyah session with Tiger was "a little bit" of a distraction. And then, when another question came, Sergio bristled: "It sounds like I was the bad guy. I was the victim."

    And there you had it. The career-defining line, on a career-defining day, after a career-defining hole for poor Sergio Garcia, the dogged victim of inexorable fate, and so much more.

    SCORECARD OF THE WEEK

    67-67-71-70 – 13-under 275, Tiger Woods, winner, The Players Championship, TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

    Man, this guy can do everything – except win a major.

    Hey, now! Just kidding, Tiger-philes. If you're a regular reader of Lateral Hazard, you know I consider his climb back to No. 1, post-Escalade-into-a-tree, among his greatest career accomplishments. You also know I still have it better than even money he passes Jack Nicklaus with 19 major championships.

    Johnny Miller even said on NBC Tiger could be approaching "2000-level" golf. Don't forget, he didn't win the Masters in 2000, either. He only won the U.S. Open (by 15 shots), the British Open and the PGA Championship instead.

    Tiger has now won four times in seven PGA Tour starts, and that's sorta intergalactically insane. What's missing from his game, besides a major? He leads the entire Tour in strokes gained putting, and in total scoring. Any questions?

    Tiger Woods tips his hat to the crowd on the 17th green. (USA Today)




    The return of the putter is the most mind-blowing aspect of his play. It would stand to reason he would lose some touch at age 37, not able to pour them home with impunity like he did when he was 24, in the summer of 2000. That Steve Stricker tip given before Bay Hill may loom as one of the turning points in golf history. The NBC crew noted he was beginning to walk his putts home, like escorting a date to the front door at the end of the evening. It's that 'Showdown With Bob May' strut, when he did the point-walk at Valhalla in 2000 as his putts were tracking. Is this guy putting on a show, or what?

    Speaking of which, it appears Lindsey Vonn will be an active part of Tiger 2.0. Not only did they make the daring trip to New York for the red-carpet gala last week – heretofore an unthinkable distraction in Tiger's pre-Lindsey world – but she's tweeting about his game and hanging around every hole, not caring at all that TV cameras are focusing in on her. Whatever she's doing for him, it's working.



    [Related: Tiger Woods nabs fourth win of 2013 thanks to late Sergio Garcia collapse]

    The only time Tiger reminded us he's mortal was his snapped tee shot on 14. The 'lefts' can be a problem for Tiger, and it's something to remember come the U.S. Open at Merion next month. Johnny Miller openly questioned Tiger's drop on 14, and memories of Augusta National came rushing back. Somewhere, David Eger reached for his cell phone. But Roger Maltbie, walking with Tiger, quieted the charge by saying he thought the drop was OK, and Tiger says playing partner Casey Wittenberg OK'd the drop.

    All that was left for Tiger was to enjoy Sergio's meltdown, wait for unknown Swede David Lingmerth's birdie try on 18 to miss, and the celebration was on. He bro-hugged caddie Joe LaCava in front of NBC cameras in the Sawgrass clubhouse, giving a pumped-up, "How about THAT, huh?" exclamation. LaCava, referencing Tiger's woes on Pete Dye-designed tracks and his lack of a Sawgrass win since 2001, said: "I told you you could get this track!" Smiles, everyone, smiles.

    In his NBC interview with Steve Sands, Sands noted Tiger's four wins by May 12 were his fastest-to-four-wins in a calendar year in his career. Tiger smiled, and dropped this bomb on the golf world:

    "I'm getting better."

    You've been warned.

    BROADCAST MOMENT OF THE WEEK

    "It almost looks like he was playing for Merion. He wasn't using his driver. He was using that little 5-wood he loves, a few 3-woods, playing for position. All systems are 'go'." – Johnny Miller, NBC, already introducing the notion that Tiger Woods can tame the tight fairways of Merion Golf Club, site of next months' United States Open golf championship.


    View gallery

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    Tiger Woods reacts to a putt on the 11th hole during the final round. (AP)




    Tiger fans have already loaded their argumentative pistols when it comes to Merion, a short golf course that would seem to eliminate the advantage of Tiger's power game. "Remember Hoylake?" they ask, citing Tiger's demolition of the field at the 2006 British Open in Liverpool, using irons off nearly every tee. 

    And they've got a point.

    In classic Tiger form, he undermined any and all chatter about him dominating Merion with his precision game. When asked about possibly flexing Merion strategy at Sawgrass, he smiled and said: "I've never played Merion."

    Tiger, you see, likes to control the talking points.

    I'm on the side of the Hoylake-ists. When Tiger is putting the way he's putting, there's not a course on the globe that can stop him.

    MULLIGAN OF THE WEEK

    I know I spent the first 800 words of this column shaking my head at the tragedy of Sergio Garcia, but you also know he's the runaway choice for Mully o' the Week.

    Everybody and his or her mother – especially on Mother's Day – wanted a Tiger-Sergio playoff at Sawgrass. What would have happened? Shirts ripped off and a "Fight Club" bareknuckle brawl on the playoff hole at 17? A staredown? A Sumo-like bumping of bellies, until one falls in the man-made water hazard of Sawgrass?

    [Rewind: Sergio Garcia: Tiger Woods 'not the nicest guy on tour’]

    We were two pars away from Tiger and Sergio locking horns in the playoff of dreams. And yet, Sergio let us all down. His two dunked tee shots (he got wet on 18, too, in case there were any stragglers still defending him) removed all drama, handed Tiger the win and deprived us all of mouth-watering theatre.

    So, let's head back out to the 17th tee, have Sergio breathe a few times into a brown paper bag, remind him that all his machismo needed to have a backing argument, as well, give Sergio the yardage, tell him it's just a little ole wedge and – give that El Nino a mulligan!

    WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

    There was a time the Byron Nelson Invitational was a premier stop on Tour. Sadly, the world does not enjoy the charms of Lord Byron anymore, and the event has dropped a notch.

    Still, Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley, Matt Kuchar and defending champ Jason Dufner will tee it up at Las Colinas outside of Dallas.

    No Sergio Garcia, though. He'll be needing some 'me' time. No Tiger Woods, either. He'll be too busy watching the GIF of Sergio's tee shot on 17, on loop, over and over.

    Video of Sergio Garcia's late meltdown at TPC



     

    Golf notebook: Fans cheer, jeer Singh

      Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange May 13, 2013 2:50 AMThe SportsXchange



      --Vijay Singh received a mixed reception from fans in round one at the Players Championship after filing suit against the PGA Tour for, in part, "public humiliation and ridicule."

      Singh's suit was announced on the eve of the tournament, even though no action was taken against him after he admitted to using deer antler spray, which contained an ingredient that at the time was on the tour's banned list.

      There was one fan, Jim Kavanaugh of Jacksonville, wearing a deer antler hat in the front row on the first tee and another who yelled, "Vijay, you suck!" after the Big Fijian hit his tee shot into the water on the 18th hole.

      "Why don't you come here and say that," Singh responded, according to a marshal, but the fan was retreating rather quickly.

      Another fan yelled, "Stay off the spray, Vijay."

      For the most part, though, fans were polite to Singh as he shot 74-71--145 and missed the cut by one stroke at TPC Sawgrass, right down the street from his home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

      In fact, Singh received some cheers and had some supporters.

      "We got your back, Vijay," another fan yelled.

      On the third hole, a woman chimed in with: "We don't care what the PGA Tour says. We support Vijay."

      The 50-year-old Singh, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame who has 34 PGA Tour victories and 22 more around the world, including three major titles, came under scrutiny when he admitted in a January article in Sports Illustrated that he was using deer antler spray, which contains IGF-1, which was a banned substance.

      However, when the World Anti-Doping Agency recently announced that the substance was no longer on the banned list, the PGA Tour dropped its case against Singh.

      --By winning the Wells Fargo Championship, rookie Derek Ernst rose an incredible 1,084 spots in the World Golf Rankings to No. 123 last week.

      In addition, the 22-year-old from Clovis, Calif., and Nevada Las Vegas earned spots in the Masters, the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the PGA Championship and last week's Players Championship. Plus a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour.

      Not to mention that he earned $1,206,000 after totaling $28,255 in his first seven events this season, including five consecutive missed cuts at one point.

      Ernst is smart enough to know what really counts.

      "The money is money, it will come and go, but winning and having a job and playing out here for the next two years, that's what I want to do," said Ernst, who started the week at Quail Hollow as the fourth alternate.

      "I want to play out here, so that is the best part."

      Ernst was driving to the Stadion Classic at UGA in Athens, Ga., a Web.com Tour event, after tying for 47th in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans when he got a call from a PGA Tour official, who told him he was in the Wells Fargo field after several players withdrew.

      At Quail Hollow, he beat David Lynn of England with a par on the first playoff hole after outplaying the likes of Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Nick Watney down the stretch.

      Ernst was one stroke behind on the final hole of regulation, but he hit his approach shot with a 6-iron from 192 yards to within four feet of the hole and made a birdie to get into the playoff.

      In the Players Championship, he shot 74-81--155 and missed the cut by 11 strokes in his first appearance at TPC Sawgrass.

      But he'll be back.

      --Donald Trump announced that he plans to extend his golfing empire to the Middle East by building a course in the desert outskirts of Dubai. It's another sign that the emirate's property market, hard hit by the global economic downturn, is recovering.


      The Trump Organization owns 14 award-winning courses around the world, but this will be its first in Asia.

      "As with all of the courses we develop and manage, Trump International Golf Club Dubai is being built to the highest standards of excellence and will become known as one of the world's finest courses," said Ivanka Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization.

      "The combination of DAMAC Properties' local knowledge and expertise in the luxury market, and our unrivaled experience with owning and operating a collection of the world's finest courses, will result in a challenging golf course with stunning landscaping and superior quality."

      There was no immediate word on who would design the 7,205-yard, par-71 course.

      Trump owns courses in Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Miami; Aberdeen, Scotland; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and other spots in North America and Europe.

      The Trump International Golf Club in Dubai will be the centerpiece of a 28- million-foot project being developed by DAMAC Properties that includes a luxury residential community, hotels, a spa and international schools.

      The course will be developed on land purchased from Dubailand, a much-hyped project that included a $1 billion Tiger Woods golfing estate. The Woods project was shelved a few years ago because of the economic downturn after several holes were completed.

      --Davis Love III returned to the PGA Tour last week at the Players Championship after missing about three months following spinal fusion surgery Feb. 8 in Atlanta.

      The procedure included the removal of bone spurs between his C5-6 and C6-7 vertebrae and a spinal fusion.

      Love had hoped to play in the RBC Heritage, which he has won a record five times, and the Wells Fargo Championship in recent weeks, but he wanted to be sure he was not coming back too soon.

      "I just need to get strong enough to play golf day in and day out," said Love, who has won 20 titles on the PGA Tour, including the 1997 PGA Championship.

      "I can play four or five or six days in a row now. I need to get to where I can play two qualifying rounds, Colonial, Memorial, and two more qualifying rounds. So I need to be ready for stuff like that. I've been able to do it the last few years, but not as well as I'd like, so I'm really close."

      It was his 28th appearance in the Players, which he won in 1992 and 2003, and he wound up in a tie for 48th, sliding 22 spots down the leaderboard with a closing 4-over-par 76.

      Love said he was pain-free after dealing with an ailing neck since 2000. He'd experienced periodic loss of strength and numbness in his arms in recent years.

      "I was very frustrated mentally," the 49-year-old said. "I knew physically I couldn't do it, but I ... was just grinding away, and there was no reason to be doing it.

      "So finally I called my doctor ... and I said, 'I'm just beating my head against the wall, aren't I?' And he said, 'Yes, you are. You're going to have that surgery. You can have it now, you can have it in the summer or you can have it in the fall, but you're going to have it this year.'"

      The Players was his first tournament since he withdrew after one round of the Waste Manage Phoenix Open early in February.

      --Colin Montgomerie of Scotland, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame last week, said he would play full-time in the United States on the Champions Tour after he becomes eligible when he turns 50 on June 23.

      Montgomerie, who has never won an official event in the U.S., resisted joining the PGA Tour during his career, staying at home to play the European Tour.

      "I look forward now in many ways to starting a new life, a new chapter of my life to come over here now," Montgomerie told reporters before his induction in St. Augustine, Fla.

      "Family commitments kept me in Europe. I was very happy and comfortable at home, and my wife and children were in school. I felt there was no need at that stage to come over here."

      Montgomerie was one of the first British golfers to come to the U.S. to play college golf, at Houston Baptist, where he earned a degree in business management in 1987.

      Then he went home to the United Kingdom and primarily played the Euro Tour, despite overtures from PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and his predecessor, Deane Beman.

      "I was No. 1 in Europe," Montgomerie said. "I was very happy in Europe and I was comfortable in that position, and therefore I stayed there. If it's not busted, you don't fix it, and that was why I really didn't come over here."

      Montgomerie has captured 40 titles in his career, including 31 on the European Tour, but no majors. He made it to the Hall of Fame on the strength of seven consecutive Order of Merit (money list) titles on the Euro Tour and a Ryder Cup record of 20-9-7.

      In 2010, he was captain of the European team that defeated the Americans 14 1/2-13/12 in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in Wales.

       

      Inside the Ropes: Kuchar on course for major title

        Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange May 13, 2013 2:50 AMThe SportsXchange



        In 2011, Keegan Bradley ended an American drought of six majors without a victory by winning the PGA Championship.

        Last year, Bubba Watson captured the Masters and Webb Simpson claimed the U.S. Open title, and for each of the three, it was the first majors championship of his career.

        It might be Matt Kuchar's turn, perhaps as soon as next month in the U.S. Open at Merion.

        "I think the more comfortable you get winning tournaments -- I've now got five wins, and I'd like to continue that going," said the 34-year-old Kuchar, who is playing this week in the HP Byron Nelson Championship after a disappointing tie for 48th in his title defense at the Players Championship. "Majors are certainly on my radar. I think all of us try to peak for major championships. Everybody wants to get their game in the best shape possible for majors. ...

        "I would like to kind of be 'on' with regularity and play well week in and week out, and I felt like that was the best preparation and just continue playing well and let that carry into major championships and just keep the good play going."

        The upward turn of Kuchar's career since 2009 reads like a roadmap heading toward a major championship.

        Kuchar ended a seven-year, non-winning streak by capturing the 2009 Turning Stone Resort Championship during the Fall Series, and things took off from there.

        The following year, he captured the Barclays to open the PGA Tour playoffs for the FedEx Cup. He added a victory last year in the Players Championship and earlier this season in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, where he beat defending champion Hunter Mahan in the final.

        Not only has he shown he can win the big tournaments, but he also leads the PGA Tour with 33 top-10 finishes in the past three-plus seasons.

        "I've always thought you were supposed to take the appropriate steps to get to the next level," said Kuchar, whose brilliant amateur career included a victory in the 1997 United States Amateur. "I've always thought that like in school, you kind of graduate elementary school, get to middle school, you graduate middle school and get to high school and then college, and those are the steps you take. You don't jump straight into college, and you don't jump straight into advanced-placement courses. You kind of take these little steps to get there.

        "I thought the same was applicable with golf. I felt like you kind of start playing well, you start top-10ing, you start having a lot of chances, and then you win a tournament. Then you start doing the same in bigger tournaments. You start having better and better results, and you take those steps and feel more and more comfortable in the big tournaments, majors included, and I feel like I've made the right progressions.

        "I've been pleased at kind of the trajectory of my career the last couple years."

        That Kuchar, who has been in or near the top 10 in the World Golf Rankings the last few years, has become a major player is no surprise to anyone who saw him play during a brilliant amateur career.

        After claiming the U.S. Amateur title at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club outside of Chicago, he earned the 1998 Haskins Award as college player of the year as a sophomore at Georgia Tech and finished as low amateur in the Masters and the U.S. Open that year.

        Kuchar earned six titles for the Yellow Jackets before his graduation in 2000 in business management, before he briefly took a job in finance to have something to fall back on, just in case.

        All it did was help him know what to do with his money once he turned pro.

        In 2001, he earned his PGA Tour card without going to qualifying school by making $572,669 in six tournaments, including a tie for second in the Texas Open at La Cantera and a tie for third in the Air Canada Championship.


        Kuchar broke through for his first victory on the circuit in the 2002 Honda Classic, and then ... almost nothing, for nearly seven years.

        "Golf is a difficult and humbling game," the 6-foot-4 Kuchar said of how it brought even a big man like him to his knees. "I think it's gotten the best of everybody at times. So it was at times very frustrating. I think it's one of those things, even when you're playing great, the game of golf can still bring you right back down and humble you pretty quickly. ...

        "Yeah, there were times I felt like I was going to have a hard time fighting my way back, and fortunately with my work with (instructor) Chris O'Connell, it's really been this upward climb where I feel like there's still a lot of improvements we can make. I feel like we've made a great deal of improvements, and I feel like there's still a lot of room to get better."

        Kuchar turned to O'Connell in 2006, when he also went back to what was then the Nationwide Tour (now the Web.com Tour) and relearned what it was like to compete and win. He captured the Henrio County Open and finished second in the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open and the Nationwide Tour Championship.

        It restored the upward momentum of his career, and he has reached new heights by finishing in the top 10 in majors five times in the past four seasons, including ties for third and eighth the past two years in the Masters.

        "I'm certainly looking forward to contending more in majors and hopefully getting my chance to win a couple," Kuchar said.

        Once he breaks through, it might be as simple as one-two-three.



        COMING UP

        PGA TOUR: HP Byron Nelson Championship at TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas in Irving, Texas, Thursday through Sunday.

        TV: Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. EDT and 3-6 p.m. EDT on CBS.

        LAST YEAR: Jason Dufner holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole to claim his second PGA Tour victory by one stroke over 20-year veteran Dicky Pride, whose only victory on the circuit came in the 1994 St. Jude Classic. Dufner, then 35, posted four scores in the 60s to win for the second time in four weeks, having claimed his first victory in a playoff over Ernie Els at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Pride, then 42, also posted four scores in the 60s, matching Dufner's closing 3-under-par 67 by sinking a 13-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and a 22-footer for par on the final hole after hitting his tee shot into the water. J.J. Henry took the lead with a hole-in-one from 154 yards with a pitching wedge on the third hole and was one stroke ahead of playing partner Dufner on the 17th tee. However, Henry hit his tee shot over the green and eventually missed a four-foot putt to card a double-bogey 5 to close with a 68, leaving him in a tie for third.



        CHAMPIONS TOUR: 74th Senior PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, May 23-26.

        TV: Thursday and Friday, noon-3 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.

        LAST YEAR: Roger Chapman of England built a nine-stroke lead early in the final round and held on to claim his first victory on the Champions Tour by two shots over John Cook at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Mich. The 53-year-old Chapman, who had only three professional victories previously, added the U.S. Senior Open less than a month later. In the Senior PGA, he built a five-stroke lead after 54 holes with rounds of 68-67-64 before closing with a 1-over-par 72, carding bogeys on three of the last five holes. Kenny Perry posted a tournament-record 62 in the final round, but all it got him was a tie for ninth, five strokes behind Chapman.



        LPGA TOUR: Mobile Bay LPGA Classic at the Crossings Course at Magnolia Grove in Mobile, Ala., May 16-19.

        TV: Thursday and Friday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday and Sunday, 5-7 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.

        LAST YEAR: Stacy Lewis held a five-stroke lead early on the final day, only to be caught by teenager Lexi Thompson. However, Lewis regained the lead with a birdie on the 16th green and claimed her third victory of the LPGA Tour with a two-putt par on the final hole to close out a 3-under-par 69. Thompson, who was 17 at the time, pushed Lewis all the way to the finish, closing with rounds of 66-65. Lewis, the only player in the field to record four scores in the 60s, hit her second shot at No. 15 into the water left of the green and carded her first bogey in 24 holes. That dropped her into a tie with Thompson, but Lewis, who has won five times since, bounced back with the birdie on the next hole after a brilliant chip shot, and she closed with two pars.