Creamer leads LPGA event by four strokes
Published 3:23 pm Saturday, July 12, 2008
SYLVANIA, Ohio — Paula Creamer shot a 1-under-par 70 Saturday, 10 more shots than she needed for her first round, and held a four-stroke lead after three rounds of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.
Creamer, who set the course record with her opening 60, was at 18-under 195 through 54 holes at Highland Meadows. The 21-year-old Californian had a 65 in the second round.
South Korea’s Eun-Hee Ji was in second place, as she has been after all three rounds. She shot a 68 to cut two strokes off of Creamer’s lead.
She could easily have made an even bigger dent in the lead. Ji cut it to three strokes when she birdied the 11th hole while Creamer, playing in the same group, was three-putting for a bogey. Creamer recovered with birdies at the 13th and 17th holes. Ji was 1 under for the final seven holes and missed two birdie putts inside 10 feet.
Playing her first full year on the tour, Ji missed a 10-footer at No. 16. Then, moments after Creamer saved par with a 7-foot putt at the closing hole, Ji missed a 6-footer for birdie.
Rachel Hetherington had a 67 and was alone in third at 202. Karrie Webb made the biggest move of the day, shooting a 62 to climb into a tie for fourth with Chinese rookie Shanshan Feng, who shot a 64. They were both at 203.
Defending champion Se Ri Pak, trying to become the first LPGA player to win the same tournament six times, had a 72 that left her 14 shots back. Michelle Wie shot a 71 and was at 213.
Creamer will be after her seventh career win and third of the year. She won tournaments in Hawaii and Tulsa, but is trying to erase bad final rounds in each of her last two starts.
She lapsed to a 78 in the final round to fall into a tie for sixth in the U.S. Women’s Open at Interlachen two weeks ago, then put herself out of contention with a closing 74 a week ago in Arkansas.
Creamer is No. 1 on the U.S. Solheim Cup standings and ranks third on the money list behind Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam.
The lead threesome had to wait more than an hour to tee off when play was delayed because of a thunderstorm that rumbled through Toledo and its suburbs. Heavy rain was expected overnight, forcing organizers to again go to threesomes off both tees in the final round.
