36-Hole Day Leaves Hurst, Sorenstam To Battle In Playoff

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Newport, R.I. – What’s one more day.

After a long and arduous week the 61^st Women’s Open came down to a climactic finish on the 72^nd hole Sunday, a setting gilded by Pat Hurst’s 4-foot must-make putt on top of Annika Sorenstam’s razor-thin birdie miss. Because of that, both players had their even-par-284 ticketed scorecards punched for an 18-hole Monday playoff that begins at 9 a.m. EDT.

The last time the championship needed a playoff to relieve a logjam occurred in 2003 at Pumpkin Ridge. Hilary Lunke outlasted Angela Stanford and Kelly Robbins then.

"It’s every woman’s dream," said Hurst, adding that nerves entered the equation. "Just to have that chance to make that putt and make it to go into a playoff, I mean, it’s something that you do dream about.

Pat Hurst has to play out of the rough on the 11th hole during the fourth round. (John Mummert/USGA)

"You get the butterflies going and the juices start flowing, and like I said, that’s what we live for, that’s what makes us come out."

"I guess I was playing with my heart," said Sorenstam. "This is what I wanted to do and it happened."

Other players came close during Sunday’s 36-hole sojourn on the 6,564-yard layout, but in the end, a merciless Newport wind kept scores salient as a water fountain. Se Ri Pak (2-under 69), Stacy Prammanasudh (1-over 72) and Michelle Wie (2-over 73) stayed close yet never could make a final charge. All leave the championship at 2-over-par 286.

Forty-six-year-old Juli Inkster, who has won two Women’s Opens and held the lead a couple of times Sunday, simply ran out of steam. She played the final 36 holes at a pace of 2 over, exiting the soiree with a bogey on her 70^th hole. She finished at 3-over 287.

"I mean, shoot, yeah, it was definitely within reach," said Inkster, who could have become the oldest Women’s Open champion had she won. "I felt like I was one of the ones to beat out there."

Second-round co-leader Jane Park, a USGA champion as the winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur two years ago, split low-amateur honors with Amanda Blumenherst at 9-over 293.

As the field fell by the wayside, Sorenstam seemed to feed off it while Hurst wouldn’t buckle. The two were in the same group. They talked during 27 holes, then hardly said anything beyond "good putt" on the tension-filled back nine coming down the stretch.

Perhaps Hurst’s husband, Jeff, knew what was in store. He told her prior to the fourth round that he never checked out of their hotel.

"I said, ‘Oh you’re crazy’" said Hurst. "Why not? He must have known something."

Not anything more than anyone else knew.

The championship appeared to be in Sorenstam’s grasp. She shared the lead after the second and third rounds, and bolted to a two-stroke advantage on the strength of two birdies on her first two fourth-round holes. But Hurst wouldn’t acquiesce, hanging in at even par through six holes.

The seventh through ninth could have tattered Sorenstam’s mental health. She found the fairway on all of them, only to walk off the ninth with a double-bogey and two bogeys.

On the par-4 seventh, a tricky hole with water all around, Sorenstam hiccupped. She sent her approach into a lateral hazard, took the penalty and suffered the double when she yanked her 15-foot putt for bogey. That created a three-way tie between Hurst, Inkster and Sorenstam.

Sorenstam would miss from 6 feet on the next hole and from 4 feet while trying to get up and down from a front bunker on No. 9, the hardest hole on the course all four rounds. Hurst gained the outright lead on the par-4 eighth, chipping in 20 feet from the fringe. She chipped in on the eighth in the second round.

"Those holes are tough," said Sorenstam. "I said, ‘I came here, I want to play, I’m not going to give this up.’"

Four holes later, on No. 12, Wie complicated matters by knocking in a bumpy putt from 12 feet that forged another three-way tie. It would only last a hole as Wie’s ball-striking, as it had most of the day, caused her trouble on 13. She couldn’t get up and down, setting the stage for one player, Sorenstam, vying for her 10^th major and the other, Hurst, attempting to become the second female to win a U.S. Girls’ Junior, Women’s Amateur and Women’s Open. Not to mention her second major.

"Well, a shot or two better would get me there," said Wie, bolstered by savvy putting that produced just 27 in the fourth round. "I’m playing as hard as I can and it’s going to happen."

Sorenstam finally caught Hurst with an attention-grabbing 18-foot birdie putt on the par-4 15^th. She pumped her fist.

She leapfrogged Hurst on the next hole by converting another long putt. This one, from right to left and hole-high, traversed 20 feet to its target. Sorenstam waved to the gallery, bringing raucous cheers.

They would be short-lived. Hurst wouldn’t let it unravel her.

"I was trying not to focus on everybody else’s score, because I know it’s not a course where you’re going to shoot 10 under," said Hurst.

On the 17^th, a par 3, Sorenstam took a 6-iron and muscled the ball off the back fringe. She chipped, then two-putted from 8 feet and bogeyed to Hurst’s two-putt par from 20 feet.

Deadlocked coming into 18, Sorenstam split the fairway for the 11^th time and Hurst hit too much of a draw that landed in the right rough. Sorenstam’s approach stopped 22 feet away and left her a downhill birdie putt. Hurst, meanwhile, couldn’t get the ball to release and it stopped on the collar well below the hole.

A 40-foot chip set up her 4-foot putt. But not before Sorenstam had the opportunity to send everyone home by tumbling in her birdie try. The ball hit the right edge of the hole, bringing Sorenstam’s hands to her head in disbelief.

"I played it about a cup and a half on the right, and when I looked up, it was looking pretty good," said Sorenstam. "It looked good for a long time, so obviously I was hoping for it to go in."

Now it came down to Hurst. Jeff Hurst wouldn’t make eye contact with her, but knows one of their two children caught her attention. She made a small gesture, turning her attention perhaps one of the most pressure-packed putts of her career. When it went it, a smile colored her face. The playoff was pretty much academic because Sorenstam only needed a 2-foot tap-in to force it.

"We all say, ‘This is for the Open,’ and that definitely was for the Open,’" said Hurst.

Said Jeff Hurst: "I just told the kids, ‘If she makes it, she’s good. If she doesn’t, she tried her hardest.’"

"Cut throat? No," said Hurst. "No, I think we’re just going to go out and play and try to play some good golf and see where it takes us."

Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him with comments or questions at kklavon@usga.org.