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Golf
March 24, 2003
PHOENIX -- Se Ri Pak needed a big start to beat Annika Sorenstam, and she got it with a pair of front-nine eagles. On a course where birdies came in bunches, though, it took a scrambling par to clinch her win.
Pak's long par putt after hitting it in the water on the 17th hole kept her in the lead, and she finished with a tap-in birdie on the 18th Sunday for 8-under 64 to win the Safeway Ping by a shot over Grace Park.
Sorenstam struggled with her wedges and putter all day and was never in contention on the back nine. She finished with 1-under 71, four shots back.
"That's golf," she said. "If you play golf long enough you know these things happen."
The final round began with Pak making birdies on the first two holes, setting up a showdown between the two best players on the LPGA Tour. But after Pak passed Sorenstam with two eagles on the front nine, Sorenstam never threatened.
Park had an outside chance to tie if she could sink her second shot on the par-4 18th hole, and she nearly did. The ball checked up 3 feet beneath the hole. She finished with 65.
Pak, who had four straight rounds in the 60s, served notice to Sorenstam that she faces an imposing task in trying to win 11 times again this year. Pak won five times last year, four of those coming with Sorenstam in the field.
"I'm really proud of myself," said Pak, who finished at 23 under. "I really wanted to win this tournament."
Sorenstam played erratically, plodding along with pars on the same course where she made nine birdies a day before.
The most dominant player in women's golf made only one birdie -- two-putting the par-5 10th hole -- and parred the rest. It was the second straight year she blew a final-round lead at the Moon Valley Country Club, where she lost last year in a playoff with Rachel Teske.
Pak caught Sorenstam with a tap-in eagle after hitting a fairway wood close on the fourth hole, added a second eagle with a 20-footer on the eight hole, and had a three-shot lead at the turn after shooting 30 on the front nine.
But she cooled off on the back nine and was only a shot ahead of Park when she took out a fairway wood for her tee shot on the par-4 17th.
Pak was playing it safe, but she pulled the shot into the water down the left side. She dropped in the light rough, hit an 8-iron to about 40 feet and then calmly rolled the ball in for par.
"I was thinking if I could two-putt I could still get in a playoff," Pak said. "Then it went in."
Pak then played the 18th perfectly, hitting a drive down the right side and an iron to about 18 inches for a final birdie.
Karrie Webb, who was tied with Sorenstam, Pak and Patricia Meunier-Lebouc after three rounds, was never a factor. She started out three shots back and shot 2-over 38 on the front.
TOSHIBA SENIOR CLASSIC: Australian Rodger Davis shot 3-under-par 68 to get his first victory in the United States.
In his 42nd appearance on the Champions Tour, Davis finished at 16-under 197, making good on his prediction that it would take at least 15 under to win.
"You can't believe how happy I am," said Davis, who won $232,000. "I had a couple of chances last year, but I think I was trying too hard. You just have to let it happen."
Larry Nelson closed with 67 to finish four strokes back in second at 12-under 201.
MADEIRA ISLAND OPEN: Bradley Dredge of Wales won his first PGA European Tour title in a big way, finishing at 16-under 272 and beating Sweden's Fredrik Andersson and England's Brian Davis and Andrew Marshall by eight strokes in Santo da Serra. Dredge was the only top-100 player in the event.