Powerhouse finish gets Pak home
BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2002 First Union Betsy King Classic | Wrap | 26 Aug 2002
Se Ri Pak saved her best for last at the First Union Betsy King Classic, firing a last round 63 to finish like a train and beat second year player Angela Stanford by three.
Two bogeys in the first three holes gave no sign of what was to come for Pak, who started her run at the fifth and reeled off nine birdies in the next fourteen holes.
Pak had started her round in third place, three behind Michelle Ellis. It had appeared as if both Ellis and Karrie Webb, who was alone in second going into round four, would continue the amazing run of Australians worldwide this weekend but it was not to be. Ellis, who has been second the last two weeks slipped with a two over seventy four and whilst Webb played well she was no match on this occasion for the brilliant South Korean.
This was Pak’s sixteenth career win and she has moved well over the $US1,000,000 mark this season with earnings of $US1,112,802 and is back ahead of Inkster in second place on the money list but still some $US800,000 behind Annika Sorenstam.
Twenty four year old Angela Stanford, a non-exempt player in her second year on tour did very well to produce her best finish on tour with second, just ahead of Webb. Stanford, an ex-Curtis Cup player, played in twenty-six events last year and finished in ninety-eighth place on the money list and in this her second year, has played in sixteen events for now close to $US200,000. This guarantees her of fully exempt status on tour next year and she may well blossom in the last few events as a result of that surety.
Webb was third, with Catriona Matthew a shot further back in fourth.
Wendy Doolan was the next best Australian in fifth spot, with Michelle Ellis yet another top ten in sixth, and Rachel Teske ninth.
Of special interest was the appearance of a future star of the tour Lorena Ochoa who has already graduated to next season’s LPGA Tour via her top placing on the Future’s Tour money list. She finished fourteenth.
