Park’s Late Heroics Keep Cutline At 148

Southern Pines, N.C. – Just as it had occurred in the U.S. Open two weeks prior, the 36-hole leader in the U.S. Women’s Open did something spectacular at the finish to prevent extra players from making the cut.

At Oakmont Country Club it was eventual winner Angel Cabrera who birdied the last hole to eliminate a number of hopefuls, including Phil Mickelson. On Saturday at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club, Angela Park assumed the role of spoiler. Park converted two improbable par putts on her final two holes to deliver early pink slips to those who might have snuck in via the 10-shot rule.

Park posted 2-under 69 and her 36-hole total of 5-under 137 was two strokes ahead of a trio of contenders. Because of that finish, only 67 players will compete on the weekend in the 62nd U.S. Women’s Open when there could have been 79 or more.

Count Stacy Prammanasudh as one of the 89 players to miss the cut. (John Mummert/USGA)

Park sank a 12-footer on the eighth hole, her 17th of the day, when a bogey looked imminent. But she topped that on the ninth, holing a 22-foot slider that never looked in doubt from the moment she hit it.

"My caddie told me I spent the lead amount of time reading that putt out of all the putts today," said Park. "And I didn’t know that; I just looked at it and said, ‘OK, it’s going to go left to right and then right straight to the hole.’ And I hit it and it went in, so keep it simple."

The field found Pine Needles anything but simple, even with overnight rains softening the course and slowing down the greens. The cut came at 6-over 148. The group at 149 included two-time Open champion Juli Inkster, McDonald’s LPGA champion Suzann Pettersen, former U.S. Girls Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Dorothy Delasin, and Christina Kim, who made the cut at Pine Needles in 2001 as a 17-year-old amateur.

Kim three-putted her final hole to shoot even-par 71 Saturday and missed the cut for the third year in a row. Inkster had rallied from 10 over par to six over with two holes remaining before weather suspended play on Friday. She bogeyed the ninth, her last, to also shoot 71 but came up a shot short.

Pettersen suffered two difficult days on the greens. She bogeyed the 17th to fall outside the cutline. "I never could get the speed right. I don’t know why," she said after taking 65 putts in two days.

Only three former Women’s Open champions made the cut, including defending champion Annika Sorenstam, who played just three shots on Saturday morning to close out a 77 that left her at 5-over 147. The others were 2005 winner Birdie Kim and 1987 champ Laura Davies, whose victory came in a playoff that ended on a Wednesday at Plainfield (N.J.) Country Club. Davies shot 75 to also finish at 147. Kim’s 70 gave her a 143 total, tied for 11th and solidly in contention.

Pat Hurst, runner-up to Sorenstam last year at Newport (R.I.) Country Club in the championship’s last 18-hole playoff, shot 72 Saturday to earn two more rounds. The former U.S. Girls’ Junior and Women’s Amateur champion was at 146.

Other former Women’s Open champs sent packing included Australia’s Karrie Webb, who notched her second straight title in ’01 at Pine Needles. Webb could not overcome an opening 83. She came back to complete a 71 Saturday but was well off the mark at 154. Also gone were 1988 winner Liselotte Neumann, ’03 champion Hilary Lunke and two-time winner Meg Mallon, who won in 1991 and 2004.

Four of the 23 amateurs in the field earned another 36 holes of competition, led by Korean Jennifer Song and 2006 USA Curtis Cupper Jennie Lee of Henderson, Nev., at 145. The runner-up in the 2006 NCAA Division I championship, Lee followed a 71 with a 74. Song shot 73. The other two are 2007 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links winner Mina Harigae (75-147) and two-time NCAA Division I Player of the Year Amanda Blumenherst of Scottsdale, Ariz., who made it on the number with 76-148. Blumenherst, 20, a member of the victorious 2006 USA Curtis Cup team, made her second cut in as many starts. She tied for 10th last year at Newport C.C. to share low-amateur honors with fellow 2006 Curtis Cupper Jane Park, who is now a professional and made the cut on the number as well.

Reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Kimberly Kim ended up at 74-152.