Top-ranked Yani Tseng successfully defended her title in the LPGA Tour’s Northwest Arkansas Championship in Rogers, Ark., on Sunday, beating Amy Yang with a 4-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff.
Yang missed a 6-foot birdie try before Tseng holed the winning putt on the par-5 18th.
“I almost cry because today, like in the middle of the round, I felt like, ‘Oh, I’m going to lose today.” Because in my mind, I don’t feel excitement. I don’t make any birdie,” Tseng said. “But I just telling myself, ‘I need to get excited, need more focused, try to stretch, move around, just feel more.’ Like the last three holes, I make some birdies, so that was very important for me.”
During the awards ceremony on the 18th green, Tseng led the large crowd in a chant of “Woo Pig Sooie!” a chant usually heard at Razorbacks football and basketball games.
Both players closed with 3-under 68s to finish at 12-under-par 201 on the Pinnacle Country Club course.
Yang parred the final 11 holes of regulation, holing a 41/2-foot putt on the 18th to force the playoff. Tseng bogeyed the par-4 13th to drop to 10 under, then rallied with birdies on the par-5 14th and par-4 16th.
Tseng leads the tour with five victories this season, including major wins in the LPGA Championship and Women’s British Open.
Ai Miyazato (66, 11 under) was third. Cristie Kerr (68) was one stroke back.
U.S. LOSES WALKER CUP
Britain and Ireland won the Walker Cup for the first time since 2003, holding off the United States in the afternoon singles for a 14-12 victory in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Britain and Ireland took an insurmountable lead when 17-year-old Welshman Rhys Pugh beat U.S. Amateur champion Kelly Kraft, 2 and 1, and Steven Brown halved with Blayne Barber. Paul Cutler than halved with American Patrick Cantlay in the final match of the biennial event between leading amateur players.
BRIT RALLIES FOR KLM
England’s Simon Dyson won the KLM Open for the third time in six years, shooting a 4-under 66 for a one-stroke victory over countryman David Lynn in Hilversum, Netherlands.
Dyson, two shots behind leaders Gary Orr and James Kingston entering the round, birdied four of the last seven holes to finish at 12-under 268. Lynn closed with a 68.
U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy (67) was third at 10 under.
SENIOR AMATEURS
Defending men’s champion Paul Simson topped the 64 match-play qualifiers at the USGA Senior Amateur Championship in Manakin-Sabot, Va., shooting a 4-under 68 for a 5-under 139 total at Kinloch Golf Club.
Lisa Schlesinger, meanwhile, took medalist honors at the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur in Ooltewah, Tenn., completing a 4-under 68 in the delayed opening round and adding a 71.
The match play portions of both tournaments start today.
IT’S ON TO THE LPGA TOUR
Sydnee Michaels won the LPGA Futures Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship in Albany, N.Y., to finish fourth on the money list and earn a 2012 LPGA Tour card.
Michaels, from Temecula, Calif., closed with a 5-under 65 for a one-stroke victory over Jessi Gebhardt of Chandler, Ariz. Michaels finished at 8-under 202 on the Capital Hills at Albany course and earned $16,800 for her second victory of the year to push her season total to $56,232.
Kathleen Ekey of Sharon Township, Ohio, a two-time winner this season, topped the money list with $66,412.
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