Jang wins but big week for rookies at Wegmans

BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2006 Wegmans LPGA | Wrap | 26 Jun 2006

Korea’s Jeong Jang today added a second LPGA Tour victory to go with her 2005 British Open win when she held off several strong challenges to win the Wegmans LPGA Classic in Pittford, New York. In doing so Jang became the eighth Korean winner on the LPGA Tour in 2006. In that same time Americans have won twice, Mexican, Lorena Ochoa, has won twice, as has Australian Karrie Webb, while Annika Sorenstam has won once.

It might be that this week’s event saw the emergence of another country to be represented amongst those producing winners on the LPGA Tour with 19-year-old Paraguayan, Julieta Granada, very nearly pulling off a victory in her rookie season on the LPGA Tour. Despite her inexperience at this level, Granada was rock solid over the closing holes, her last round of 67 all but good enough to force a playoff.

Granada was the leading individual at the Espirito Santo Trophy in Puerto Rico in 2004 and in 2005, just after turning professional, finished runner up in her very first event on the Futures Tour before winning the YWCA Futures Classic. She gained access to the LPGA Tour when finishing 6th at the Tour School late last year.

Jang had taken a one shot lead into the final round but was under pressure all day, not only Granada, but also another talented rookie in Brittany Lang and the relatively unknown Marcy Hart whose previous best finish in five years on the LPGA Tour, prior to her third placing today, had been 9th. Hart was a brilliant amateur winning the 1995 US Girls Junior Championship and the 2000 US Amateur Championship but until today had been disappointing at this higher level.

Lang actually took the lead early in round four with four birdies in her first eight holes but she was brought undone by consecutive bogeys at the 13th and 14th holes.

The lead swung several ways throughout the final day before a birdie at the 17th got Jang back into the lead for good. Hart and Lang shared third, one behind the runner up Granada and two behind Jang.

Rachel Hetherington finally got things headed in the right direction in 2006 when she finished as the best of the Australians in 10th place, her best finish in what has been a lacklustre 2006 to date. Karrie Webb and Lindsey Wright finished 39th.

The LPGA Tour now heads to their flagship event of the year, the US Women’s Open in Newport, Rhode Island.