Pettersen wins Canadian Women's Open
BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2009 Canadian Womens Open | Round Four | 07 Sep 2009
For Suzann Pettersen it was a case of when rather than if she would win on the 2009 LPGA Tour schedule. Three times runner up this season including when beaten by M.J. Hur in a playoff last week in Oregon, the momentum was building. When she opened with a round of 65 on Thursday at this week’s CN Canadian Open in Calgary, she appeared to have recovered from the disappointment of last week.
Pettersen trailed Australian rookie Anna Rawson by one after round one but from that point on she was never headed, sharing the lead after round two and taking a five shot lead into round four. Three birdies early in her final nine holes today put to bed any chance of her being caught and she cruised to a five victory over Karrie Webb, Momoka Ueda, Morgan Pressel, Ai Miyazato and Angela Stanford.
“This feels absolutely great,” said Pettersen after her round. “I’ve been playing very good since 2007 (her last win) and have given myself a lot of chances to win tournaments, and like I’ve been saying, if you put yourself in position often enough, you’ll figure out how to close the deal.”
“It feels really good to win this one after last week’s loss in the playoff. But, I mean, you never feel safe. I had a five-, six-shot lead at the time on the back nine, but you’re playing against so good players. Like an eagle, a chip-in, everything is possible, so you’ve just got to make sure you can just stay on top of what you do and kind of try to still keep hitting aggressive shots. I kind of felt comfortable once I got that tee shot on 18. I knew I couldn’t mess that one up.”
“David Leadbetter said, ’It’s got to start turning around. I mean, you’re so close, be patient, it will turn around.’ And just to have someone backing you and in your ear day-in and day-out, keep doing what you do, it is good enough. It helps. That’s what it’s all about, building a good team that works hard and kind of hopefully a successful team.”
Webb rekindled memories of her win at Priddis Greens ten years ago with a very good tournament earning US$157,000 when sharing runner up.
“Yeah, it was good, said Webb. “Obviously I really appreciated the crowds this week. They treated me like a defending champion. That was fun. To have a chance today was – I didn’t think I would get that close on the front nine but just wasn’t meant to be.”
Anna Rawson was the next best of the Australians in 18th position earning the biggest cheque of her career in a week that saw her lead after day one.
Rachel Hetherington was 28th, Sarah Jane Smith and Lindsey Wright 33rd. Defending champion Katherine Hull missed the cut.
The LPGA will now move to Arkansas for the NW Arkansas Championship starting on Friday.
