Choi too good at US Women's Open
BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2012 US Women's Open | Wrap | 09 Jul 2012
Na Yeon Choi is the 2012 US Women’s Open Champion following her four shot victory over compatriot Amy Yang at Blackwolf Run in Kohler in Wisconsin.
Choi took the lead with her brilliant round of 65 on Saturday, a round that was four shots better than any other player on day three and a round which essentially split the field apart.
Choi took a six shot lead over Yang into the final day and although there was some cause for concern when that margin was reduced to two with a double bogey the 10th, Choi quickly regathered with a birdie at the 11th and moved further ahead with birdies at the 15th and 16th.
Although Choi bogeyed the 72nd hole, the winning margin was still four shots over Yang with a further four shots to Germany’s Sandra Gal who finished alone in third position.
Choi will move to the second position on the Rolex World Ranking, a position she has held previously but one she had slipped from following three or four indifferent tournament of late by her standards at least.
Prior to that lapse, Choi had been one of the LPGA Tour’s most consistent players over the past three years or so.
The win was Choi’s breakthrough victory in a major championship although she did finish runner-up in this event behind Paula Creamer two years ago.
Yang might not yet have won on the LPGA Tour but she again displayed just why she is considered by so many to be a rising star of the LPGA Tour. Still only 22 years of age, Yang recovered from an early bogey to be there when Choi made her triple bogey mistake at the 10th.
Yang was unable to make any further progress but her second place finish in the female game’s greatest championship will ensure she carries even greater confidence into ongoing events. It was Yang’s 7th top ten in major championship golf.
The Australasians in the field had mixed results. 15 year old New Zealander amateur Lydia Ko again displayed why she is considered one of the game’s future champions by making the cut and finishing 39th. Ko was actually inside the top twenty today before dropping six shots in her last three holes but it was nonetheless a very impressive effort in her first US Open Championship.
Ko finished as the leading amateur, edging out American Emma Talley by one shot.
Karrie Webb finished 50th and Katherine Hull 57th.
