Ji wins U.S. Women’s Open with birdie on last hole

Bethlehem, Pa. — It’s the moment that anyone who ever picks up a golf club fantasizes about. A putt on the last green of the U.S. Open, for the trophy. Late Sunday afternoon on the Old Course at Saucon Valley Country Club, the stage belonged to a 23-year-old Korean named Eun Hee Ji. And just as Payne Stewart had done a decade earlier in the men’s Open at Pinehurst, she purred a 20-footer that broke slightly to the right straight into the heart to win the women’s national championship by one shot over Taiwan’s Candie Kung, who was on the practice green hoping for a three-hole playoff. Kung didn’t have to watch to know what went down. The noise told her everything. Only difference was, Stewart’s 18-footer was for par. Ji’s was for a birdie 3, her third bird on the closing six holes, after she’d made a double-bogey 6 on No. 10 to drop three shots off the pace. Her final-round 71 left her at even-par 284. Kung, playing two groups ahead, came home in 69. “I think this will be one of the most memorable moments of my life,” Ji, who bogeyed two of her opening four holes, said through a translator. “I didn’t even dream about winning this tournament, but I did.” Cristie Kerr, who won this in 2007 and led this time after the second and third rounds, had a 75 to tie for third with In-Kyung Kim at 286. Kim bogeyed the final hole for a 70. For the 29th time in the last 36 majors, an American didn’t win. For the 16th time in the last 17, a different player did. And for the ninth time in 10, it went to someone who had never won a major before. Ji’s other LPGA Tour victory came in 2008. Her best previous finish in a grand-slam event was a tie for third at last July’s British Open. Her best showing this year had been a pair of sixths. In the first two majors, she was 36th at the Kraft Nabisco and 23rd at the McDonald’s LPGA. Kerr began the day two ahead of Ji, and four in front of Jean Reynold and Teresa Lu, both of whom would shoot 77s. Kerr was up three after a bird at the third hole, her only one of the day. She finally fell out of the lead with a bogey at 13. Not long after, there was a four-way tie for the top spot. But Kim dropped a stroke at 18. Kung, who started the tournament with 22 consecutive pars, bogeyed 17. And Kerr would three-putt from 12 feet for a bogey at 16. Ji, who had canned a 45-footer for bird at 13, then missed a five-footer for bird. But on 18, she put a six-iron from the fairway in the middle of the green. And this time she found nothing but the bottom. Is there any nicer sound? “I told myself the worst scenario that could happen was to go into a playoff, just save par,” Ji said. “So I was pretty confident, felt at ease and when I hit it, it just went in.” And there wasn’t anything that Kung, who now calls Texas home, could do about it. “I was very proud of myself,” said Kung, who was in 37th place following her second-round 77 and didn’t make her first birdie until Saturday. “I was just going out there trying to make par all the way around. “I didn’t look at the leaderboard at all, all day. I kept telling myself to stay positive. That’s all I could do. Whatever happens, happens. Eun Hee went out there and made that last putt. It’s over. I’m happy for her.” For Kerr, who narrowly missed a 25-footer for bird at 18, the outcome will obviously be much harder to digest. “I’m obviously disappointed,” she said. “It wasn’t really nerves. I just got out of rhythm. It’s unfortunate. It wasn’t my day. Even the good putts I hit didn’t go in. And that’s kind of tough. You need to get that good feeling and that good momentum on the greens at an Open. And I played great for probably 3 ½ days and played bad for half a day today. Just didn’t quite happen. “I played poorly enough to kind of give it away, but at the same time … (Ji) was just real steady. Steady wins Open. The crowd was definitely on my side, and I really thank them for supporting me. I wish I could have done better, but sometimes it doesn’t work. “If you’re not on top of your game, plus four is kind of an average score on this course. I tried my heart out. I left everything out there. I just wasn’t the better person today. If I would have shot even par or 1-under, I would have walked away with it. But that’s not going to happen. I felt like it was more physical today than mental. It was just a little off here, a little off there.” When it all comes down to a single stroke, it doesn’t take much to make the difference. Ironically, Ji said the double on 10 might have been the best thing that happened to her. “After that, I just calmed myself down and decided to play comfortably and was able to play it out,” she explained. “Until that point, Cristie Kerr was so far ahead I just didn’t think anyone was going to be able to catch up with her. But after that I basically cleared my mind and said let’s go play the rest of the round.” Ji said she’d never made a putt to win anything. Who knew? “Right before hitting it, I was nervous to the point where my hands were shaking,” she admitted. “But once again, I told myself to just make sure I saved par … “I think there will be a lot more people recognizing me now.”