By TOM LAMARRE
Oakmont, PA
Published July 12, 2010
When Paula Creamer took up golf at the age of 10, she pushed herself to practice for hours at Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton because she wasn’t as good as the other girls.
Now 23, she was better than all of the gals in the U.S. Women’s Open at storied Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa, claiming her first major title by four strokes over Na Yeon Choi of South Korea and Suzann Pettersen of Norway.
“It’s just incredible, it really is,” said Creamer, who was the only player in the field under par. “It’s been an amazing. I’ve always thought of my career as I’ve always been a pretty solid player, but yes, that question always lurked: How come you never won a major?
“And now we have, and we never get to get asked that question again. That’s kind of a big relief off of my shoulders, but I knew that the time would come. I just had to be patient.”
Creamer, playing in only her third tournament since undergoing surgery for a career-threatening left thumb injury in March, posted a score of 72-70-70-69–281, three-under par, and collected $585,000.
She did it despite the fact that her thumb, which was taped during the tournament, was only about 60 percent of full strength, grinding it out through 23 holes on Sunday and 52 holes on the weekend because of a rain delay on Friday.
“I was in pain, but I was trying to do everything to not think about it,” said Creamer, who faded to tie for sixth in each of the last two U.S. Women’s Opens. “It shows you how much the mental side of golf can really take over.
“These last couple of months were the most crucial months I think I’ve ever had to go through. You know, just maturing, learning how to handle adversity, learning how to, I guess, become more of an adult in a sense, and you have to really count your blessings every day.”
Choi, who captured the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic the previous week, finished at 75-72-72-66–285 to tie for second with Pettersen, who wound up at 73-71-72-69–285.
Pettersen, whose only major title came in the 2007 LPGA Championship, also was second in the Kraft Nabisco Championship earlier this season and has four runner-up finishes in the majors over the last four years.
She put the blame squarely on her putter.
“Kraft, I finished one back and missed a few putts coming in,” said Pettersen, who averaged 34 putts per round. “This week it’s been overall putting every day. I’m must say it’s very difficult to putt here, but however many shots I’m back of Paula is purely just putting.”
Christina Kim of San Jose and DeAnza College tied for eighth at 72- 72-72-73–289, Yani Tseng of Taiwan, who lives in Beaumont, tied for 10th at 73-76-73-68–290, and
Natalie Gulbis of Citrus Heights and the University of Arizona shot 73-73-72-74–292 to tie for 14th with Wendy Ward of Arizona State and Edwall, Wash., who came in at 72-73-70-77–292.
Cristie Kerr of Scottsdale, Ariz., the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Golgf Rankings who captured the LPGA Championship in June, tied for 17th at 72-71-75-75–293, Azahara Munoz of Arizona State and Spain tied for 19th at 75-74-71-74–294, Candie Kung of Fountain Valley and USC tied for 28th at 76-72-79-69–296, and Mhairi McKay of Stanford and Scotland tied for 34th at 71-78-76-73–298.
“I played terrible and Paula played great,” Kerr said.
Jennifer Johnson of La Quinta and Arizona State was the tournament’s low amateur at 78-73-71-78–300, tying for 41st with Jennifer Rosales of USC and the Philippines, who totaled 78-73-76-73–300, and Katherine Hull of Pepperdine and Australia, who wound up at 75-77-76-72–300.
Lindsey Wright of Pepperdine and Australia shot 78-73-75-75–301 and tied for 48th with Louise Stahle of Arizona State and Sweden, who finished at 73-74-81-73–301.
Paige Mackenzie, the 2007 Pacific 10 Conference champion from Washington and Yakima, Wash., shot 74-76-78-77–305 to tie for 55th with Anna Rawson of USC and Australia, who totaled 77-75-76-77–305, and Christine Wong of San Diego State and Richland, Wash., who finished at 77-75-78-75–305.
Tamie Durdin of Pepperdine and Australia wound up at 73-77-79-78–307 and tied for 58th with Jennifer Song of USC and South Korea, who came in at 73-78-84-72–307, and Lisa McCloskey of USC and Houston tied for 62nd at 73-75-80-80-308.
Even though she was able to hit only 40 practice shots each day because of the thumb, Creamer was able to grab the lead during a 29-hole marathon on Saturday and not let go.
Instead of fading down the stretch, this time she virtually wrapped up the title by holing a 10-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole and sinking another birdie putt from four feet on No. 15.
“I had my surgery, and yes, there was a time before my surgery where I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, I may never play golf again’ or, if the surgery goes wrong and what not,” said Creamer, who claimed her 11th professional victory.
“But it was what I had to do, and here we are with a U.S. Open championship next to me. So it’s been pretty cool.”
Wearing her trademark color, more than ever she was in the pink, which literally means in good health.
Final Scores and Earnings
1. Paula Creamer, $585,000 72-70-70-69-281
T2. Na Yeon Choi, $284,468 75-72-72-66-285
T2. Suzann Pettersen, $284,468 73-71-72-69-285
4. In Kyung Kim, $152,565 74-71-73-68-286
T5. Jiyai Shin, $110,481 76-71-72-68-287
T5. Brittany Lang, $110,481 69-74-75-69-287
T5. Amy Yang, $110,481 70-75-71-71-287
T8. Inbee Park, $87,202 70-78-73-68-289
T8. Christina Kim, $87,202 72-72-72-73-289
T10. Yani Tseng, $72,131 73-76-73-68-290
T10. Sakura Yokomine, $72,131 71-71-76-72-290
T10. Alexis Thompson, $72,131 73-74-70-73-290
13. Song-Hee Kim, $63,524 72-76-78-65-291
T14. Stacy Lewis, $56,659 75-70-75-72-292
T14. Natalie Gulbis, $56,659 73-73-72-74-292
T14. Wendy Ward, $56,659 72-73-70-77-292
T17. Karrie Webb, $49,365 74-72-73-74-293
T17. Cristie Kerr, $49,365 72-71-75-75-293
T19. Kristy McPherson, $39,285 72-78-74-70-294
T19. Shi Hyun Ahn, $39,285 72-77-73-72-294
T19. Azahara Munoz, $39,285 75-74-71-74-294
T19. Angela Stanford, $39,285 73-72-74-75-294
T19. Jeong Jang, $39,285 73-72-74-75-294
T19. Sophie Gustafson, $39,285 72-72-74-76-294
T25. Jee Young Lee, $29,625 72-76-76-71-295
T25. So Yeon Ryu, $29,625 74-74-76-71-295
T25. Brittany Lincicome, $29,625 73-78-71-73-295
T28. Chie Arimura, $24,096 74-72-76-74-296
T28. Maria Hjorth, $24,096 73-72-75-76-296
T28. Candie Kung, $24,096 76-72-79-69-296
T31. M.J. Hur, $21,529 70-81-74-72-297
T31. Ai Miyazato, $21,529 73-74-80-70-297
T31. Ashli Bunch, $21,529 78-74-75-70-297
T34. Meaghan Francella, $18,980 75-72-77-74-298
T34. Mhairi McKay, $18,980 71-78-76-73-298
T34. Morgan Pressel, $18,980 74-75-75-74-298
T34. Jeong Eun Lee, $18,980 72-78-73-75-298
T34. Shinobu Moromizato, $18,980 72-77-77-72-298
T39. Karen Stupples, $16,761 75-75-76-73-299
T39. Eun-Hee Ji, $16,761 77-75-74-73-299
T41. Maria Hernandez, $14,235 76-73-75-76-300
T41. Heather Young, $14,235 78-71-76-75-300
T41. Vicky Hurst, $14,235 72-77-77-74-300
T41. Jennifer Johnson, $0 78-73-71-78-300
T41. Hee Young Park, $14,235 78-72-76-74-300
T41. Jennifer Rosales, $14,235 78-73-76-73-300
T41. Katherine Hull, $14,235 75-77-76-72-300
T48. Lindsey Wright, $11,394 78-73-75-75-301
T48. Louise Stahle, $11,394 73-74-81-73-301
T48. Alena Sharp, $11,394 72-78-79-72-301
51. Sandra Gal, $10,132 73-73-83-73-302
T52. Naon Min, $9,736 73-79-74-77-303
T52. Sherri Steinhauer, $9,736 77-75-75-76-303
54. Allison Fouch, $9,368 74-74-80-76-304
T55. Paige Mackenzie, $9,025 74-76-78-77-305
T55. Anna Rawson, $9,025 77-75-76-77-305
T55. Christine Wong, $0 77-75-78-75-305
T58. Tamie Durdin, $8,525 73-77-79-78-307
T58. Libby Smith, $8,525 76-74-84-73-307
T58. Jennifer Song, $8,525 73-78-84-72-307
61. Chella Choi, $8,191 73-75-80-80-308
T62. Lisa McCloskey, $0 73-77-78-81-309
T62. Heekyung Seo, $8,058 72-80-79-78-309
64. Danielle Kang, $0 74-78-78-80-310
T65. Kelli Shean, $0 70-79-83-80-312
T65. Meredith Duncan, $7,925 75-74-85-78-312
67. Sarah Kemp, $7,783 73-74-83-83-313
68. Tiffany Lim, $0 75-77-83-85-320
Missed Cut.
.
MC. Gwladys Nocera, $1,000 79-74-153
MC. Juli Inkster, $1,000 77-76-153
MC. Anna Nordqvist, $1,000 77-76-153
MC. Seon Hwa Lee, $1,000 73-80-153
MC. Marianne Skarpnord, $1,000 80-73-153
MC. Joomi Kim, $1,000 81-72-153
MC. Jill McGill, $1,000 79-74-153
MC. Sally Watson, $0 75-78-153
MC. Sarah Lynn Sargent, $1,000 79-74-153
MC. Tania Elosegui, $1,000 77-76-153
MC. Catriona Matthew, $1,000 80-73-153
MC. Sun Young Yoo, $1,000 78-75-153
MC. Stacy Prammanasudh, $1,000 77-76-153
MC. Mina Harigae, $1,000 75-78-153
MC. Stephanie Kono, $0 78-76-154
MC. Meena Lee, $1,000 79-75-154
MC. Shanshan Feng, $1,000 76-78-154
MC. Taylor Leon, $1,000 76-78-154
MC. Sarah Lee, $1,000 77-77-154
MC. Esther Choe, $1,000 82-73-155
MC. Alison Walshe, $1,000 75-80-155
MC. Momoko Ueda, $1,000 80-75-155
MC. Giulia Sergas, $1,000 80-75-155
MC. Mika Miyazato, $1,000 77-78-155
MC. Julieta Granada, $1,000 75-80-155
MC. Amanda Blumenherst, $1,000 74-81-155
MC. Se Ri Pak, $1,000 77-78-155
MC. Michele Redman, $1,000 73-82-155
MC. Jennifer Gleason, $1,000 82-74-156
MC. Nicole Zhang, $0 78-78-156
MC. Junthima Gulyanamitta, $0 81-75-156
MC. Lizette Salas, $0 79-77-156
MC. Belen Mozo, $1,000 78-78-156
MC. Christi Cano, $1,000 76-80-156
MC. Sandra Changkija, $0 76-80-156
MC. Karine Icher, $1,000 79-77-156
MC. Jessica Korda, $0 79-78-157
MC. Courtney Ellenbogen, $0 76-81-157
MC. Teresa Lu, $1,000 79-78-157
MC. Victoria Tanco, $0 76-82-158
MC. Hye Jung Choi, $1,000 80-78-158
MC. Louise Friberg, $1,000 83-75-158
MC. Pornanong Phatlum, $1,000 79-79-158
MC. Michelle Wie, $1,000 82-76-158
MC. Mi-Jeong Jeon, $1,000 86-72-158
MC. Becky Morgan, $1,000 77-82-159
MC. Irene Cho, $1,000 79-80-159
MC. Bo Mee Lee, $1,000 84-75-159
MC. Kyeong Bae, $1,000 83-76-159
MC. Janine Fellows, $0 82-77-159
MC. Becky Brewerton, $1,000 78-81-159
MC. Ariya Jutanugarn, $0 81-78-159
MC. Sun Gyoung Park, $0 80-79-159
MC. Jennifer Kirby, $0 77-82-159
MC. Jenny Shin, $1,000 81-78-159
MC. Eunjung Yi, $1,000 81-78-159
MC. Sara-Maude Juneau, $0 79-81-160
MC. Ji Young Oh, $1,000 82-78-160
MC. Helen Alfredsson, $1,000 81-79-160
MC. Veronica Felibert, $1,000 80-80-160
MC. Sofie Andersson, $1,000 81-79-160
MC. Juliana Murcia Ortiz, $0 79-81-160
MC. Pat Hurst, $1,000 81-80-161
MC. Lucy Nunn, $1,000 83-78-161
MC. Brittany Altomare, $0 84-77-161
MC. Rebecca Lee-Bentham, $0 76-86-162
MC. Heewon Han, $1,000 83-79-162
MC. Kimberly Kim, $1,000 79-84-163
MC. Sakurako Mori, $1,000 83-80-163
MC. Samantha Richdale, $1,000 80-83-163
MC. Janice Moodie, $1,000 78-86-164
MC. Laura Diaz, $1,000 81-83-164
MC. Aiko Ueno, $1,000 83-81-164
MC. Lorie Kane, $1,000 84-80-164
MC. Yueer Feng, $0 83-81-164
MC. Kaitlin Drolson, $0 80-84-164
MC. Laura Kueny, $1,000 83-81-164
MC. Gabriella Then, $0 84-81-165
MC. Nicole Vandermade, $0 84-82-166
MC. Alison Lee, $0 82-84-166
MC. Tiffany Joh, $1,000 82-84-166
MC. Martha Nause, $1,000 86-81-167
MC. Charlotte Mayorkas, $1,000 83-84-167
MC. Nicole Jeray, $1,000 81-86-167
MC. Shasta Averyhardt, $1,000 85-83-168
MC. Kirby Dreher, $1,000 81-88-169
MC. Jaye Marie Green, $0 85-86-171
MC. Liz Janangelo, $1,000 84
Creamer Captures U.S. Women's Open Title
