SUZANN PETTERSEN WINS SECOND MAJOR - EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIP
REPORT BY LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR
Bethan Cutler, LET Media Manager
Evian-les-Bains, France -- Suzann Pettersen fired a final round
three-under-par 68 to earn her second career major at the inaugural
Evian Championship.
The 32-year-old Norwegian shot rounds of 66, 69 and 68 for a total of
203, 10 under par, in the rain-shortened, 54-hole event. She finished
two strokes clear of 16-year-old amateur Lydia Ko of New Zealand, who
began the day tied for second.
The third and final round quickly turned into a duel between Ko and
Pettersen, after overnight leader Mika Miyazato bogeyed the first hole
and dropped out of contention with a five-over-par front nine. Ko pulled
ahead on the first hole, but Pettersen birdied the second and
maintained her lead.
Pettersen, who won the 2007 LPGA Championship, already had three wins
this season - one on the LET and two on the LPGA – not to mention her
solid performance as a member of Europe’s winning Solheim Cup team. The
Evian, which was her 19th career victory, capped a tremendous five weeks for the World No.3 and she is projected to move to second on the Rolex Rankings.
Pettersen said: “It was definitely worth waiting a while for this one, a
major! I was actually a bit nervous coming down the stretch but on 18 I
said to Brian [Dilley, her caddie], I’m just going to go for it; I’m
too good to lay up. I tried to scramble a par.”
After early morning rainfall, which delayed the start of the play by an
hour and a half, the majority of the final round was played in warm and
dry conditions.
After gaining the advantage on the second, Pettersen birdied the third,
bogeyed seven and picked up another shot on eight, remaining a stroke
clear of Ko at the turn.
She moved two clear after Ko found a fairway bunker and bogeyed 13,
although both players birdied 15. The pair matched each other with pars
on the last three holes, allowing Pettersen to take home the €366,393
first prize. As an amateur, Ko could not take home the €223,963.83
second-place cheque. However, she revealed that she is expecting to turn
pro ‘very soon.’
“It's not only what I'm saying. It's my parents and everything. They
have a big say in it as well. Obviously people all around the world have
their say. I'm seeing some articles saying, ‘Oh, no you shouldn't.
You should wait.’ I guess at the end of the day, it's my support crew
that's going to help me make the correct decision. Yeah, it's secret. I
got to get my mom's permission to say anything.”
With her performances in professional tournaments so far, Ko could have
earned approximately US$1.2 million. Pettersen said: “Lydia is a star
of the future. She’s good enough to win majors at 16.”
Although Ko, a winner of four professional titles, missed out on
becoming the youngest ever winner of a major championship, she said: “I
was pretty happy with my round today. Like yesterday I gave myself a
lot of the chances to make birdies, so I hit it much closer to the
pins. I probably did half of that today.
“I don't expect myself to make everything, but it was really good to
know that I could come so close to the winner at a major. Second is my
best finish at a major tournament.”
Ko shot a final round 70, with Lexi Thompson of the USA in solo third,
two strokes further back at six-under-par. South Koreans Se Ri Pak and
So Yeon Ryu were tied for fourth at five-under, with Angela Stanford,
Stacy Lewis and Chella Choi sharing sixth at four-under-par.
Miyazato, who led the first two rounds, ended in tied 15th at one-under-par after a seven-over 78 in the final round.
Spain’s Beatriz Recari was the second best European in a share of ninth
place while Holly Clyburn, the Deloitte Dutch Ladies Open champion, was
the best Ladies European Tour rookie in a tie for 27th place on one-over-par.
For Pettersen, the victory at the Evian Championship also marks the
second straight event that she’s won on the LPGA Tour. The past month
has certainly been a special one for Pettersen, who won the Solheim Cup
with Europe and tallied four top-3 finishes in her last five events.
“It's been such a great month, five weeks for me, starting off with the
Solheim,” Pettersen said. “I mean, the feelings during the Solheim
never really gets old. We had a fantastic team. It was kind of a great
kick start for what became probably the month of my career.”
Clyburn Leads Rookie Race against Hull
England’s Holly Clyburn took the lead in the race to be crowned the
LET’s Rolex Rookie of the Year for 2013 with a solid performance on her
first trip to Evian.
The 23-year-old Ladies European Tour rookie from Cleethorpes earned her
place in this year’s Evian Championship through her victory in the
Deloitte Dutch Ladies Open.
She finished in a tie for 27th place after rounds of 71, 70 and 73 to finish on a 54-hole total of 214, one-over-par.
With her earnings of €21,275.22, Clyburn moved to sixth on the ISPS
HANDA Order of Merit with earnings of €103,434.28 from 12 tournaments.
She also moved 14,276 ahead of Charley Hull in the race to be named
Rolex Rookie of the Year.
“Since I won in Holland and being a rookie it’s been an aim to catch
Charley and I think I’ve probably done that this week. My aim is to get
that rookie of the year and if I keep playing like I am doing then I
might get there,” she said.
On her performance in the Evian Championship, she continued: “I’d have
taken it, but today was a bit disappointing with a rough start and then
I came back with three birdies in a row. I had it going until 16 and
then got up and down from the water on 16, then got unlucky on 17 and
hit it into the crowd on 18. If somebody had said that I’d be top 30
I’d have taken it. It’s good golf out there and it’s getting better
every week.”
There are five tournaments remaining on the 2013 LET international
schedule, with the next one being the Lacoste Ladies Open de France,
from September 26-29.
European Solheim Cup Team Members Continue to Play Well
Since winning the Solheim Cup in the United States a month ago, Suzann
Pettersen has won both the Safeway Classic and Evian Championship, while
Catriona Matthew picked up the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies
Scottish Open. Several of the other European team members performed well
in Evian, with the following results.
Beatriz Recari tied for ninth on three-under-par, while Caroline Hedwall and Azahara Munoz tied for 19th on level par. Caroline Masson tied for 37th on three-over, while a stroke further back Anna Nordqvist shared 44th place with Jodi Ewart-Shadoff among others.
After rallying to make the cut on day two, Carlota Ciganda finished in a share of 52nd place, with Catriona Matthew in equal 64th and Giulia Sergas in a tie for 67th.
Ciganda and Munoz will be joined by the remaining European team members
Charley Hull and Karine Icher in a fortnight’s time at the Lacoste
Ladies Open de France in Chantaco.
FINAL TOTALS
203 - Suzann Pettersen (NOR) 66 69 68
205 - Lydia Ko (NZL) 68 67 70
207 - Lexi Thompson (USA) 72 67 68
208 - Se Ri Pak (KOR) 66 71 71, So Yeon Ryu (KOR) 71 66 71
209 - Stacy Lewis (USA) 69 67 73, Angela Stanford (USA) 69 71 69, Chella Choi (KOR) 70 67 72
210 - Beatriz Recari (ESP) 69 69 72, Jennifer Johnson (USA) 70 70 70
211 - Il Hee Lee (KOR) 70 71 70, Shanshan Feng (CHN) 70 72 69,
Lizette Salas (USA) 70 71 70, Rebecca Lee-bentham (CAN) 75 66 70
212 - Katherine Hull-kirk (AUS) 71 71 70, Karrie Webb (AUS) 68 72 72,
Ai Miyazato (JPN) 75 68 69, Cindy Lacrosse (USA) 73 70 69
213 - I.K. Kim (KOR) 69 69 75, Hee Young Park (KOR) 72 74 67,
Caroline Hedwall (SWE) 74 68 71, Azahara Munoz (ESP) 70 71 72, Mi
Hyang Lee (KOR) 73 70 70, Sandra Gal (GER) 66 74 73, Mika Miyazato
(JPN) 65 69 79, Paula Creamer (USA) 70 69 74
214 - Mina Harigae (USA) 71 73 70, Holly Clyburn (ENG) 71 70 73, Momoko Ueda (JPN) 70 70 74, Ayako Uehara (JPN) 69 73 72
215 - Meena Lee (KOR) 71 72 72, Danielle Kang (USA) 72 73 70, Jenny
Shin (KOR) 71 73 71, Christina Kim (USA) 67 73 75, Morgan Pressel
(USA) 70 72 73, Hee-Won Han (KOR) 69 72 74
216 - Juli Inkster (USA) 74 68 74, Belen Mozo (ESP) 75 70 71, Eun Hee
Ji (KOR) 72 74 70, Michelle Wie (USA) 68 72 76, Sydnee Michaels
(USA) 71 72 73, Jessica Korda (USA) 75 70 71, Caroline Masson (GER)
70 72 74
217 - Anna Nordqvist (SWE) 74 68 75, Na Yeon Choi (KOR) 69 73 75,
Vicky Hurst (USA) 71 68 78, Jodi Ewart Shadoff (ENG) 77 68 72,
Brittany Lincicome (USA) 75 71 71, Jiyai Shin (KOR) 73 71 73, Haeji
Kang (KOR) 72 72 73, Ji Young Oh (KOR) 69 74 74218 - Lindsey Wright (AUS) 68 70 80, Carlota Ciganda (ESP) 78 68 72, Pornanong Phatlum (THA) 72 71 75, Candie Kung (TPE) 73 73 72, Natalie Gulbis (USA) 75 69 74
219 - Kris Tamulis (USA) 73 71 75, Paige Mackenzie (USA) 75 71 73, Brittany Lang (USA) 74 71 74, Mo Martin (USA) 73 72 74, Julieta Granada (PAR) 73 71 75, Lee-Anne Pace (RSA) 69 74 76, Thidapa Suwannapura (THA) 76 70 73
220 - Hee-Kyung Seo (KOR) 70 76 74, Pernilla Lindberg (SWE) 72 73 75, Catriona Matthew (SCO) 73 73 74
221 - Gwladys Nocera (FRA) 74 72 75, Gerina Piller (USA) 72 72 77,
Amy Yang (KOR) 72 73 76, Jane Park (USA) 75 70 76, Inbee Park (KOR)
74 71 76, Mariajo Uribe (COL) 70 76 75, Giulia Sergas (ITA) 73 70 78
222 - Amanda Blumenherst (USA) 75 71 76
223 - Lisa Mccloskey (USA) 70 76 77
224 - Danah Bordner (USA) 69 73 82
226 - Sarah Kemp (AUS) 73 72 81
Interview with
SUZANN PETTERSEN
dia contact:
MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome the champion of the
inaugural Evian Championship, Suzann Pettersen. Congratulations.
Where does this one rank on the resume for you?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't know. I don't know if it's
actually sunk in that I've actually won another major. All you're
trying to do is go out there and win tournaments.
Today I thought we were going to fight the weather more
than we did. It was almost like a walk in the park just staying dry.
It was second the time I was in the final group with Lydia
Ko. She is such a great competitor and keeps us on our tippy toes to
keep making birdies. I didn't know it was just kind of the two of us
coming down the stretch again.
But I felt pretty good, to be honest. It's been a while
since I won my first major. Now I'm very lucky that I can say I've won
two.
Hopefully this is just a start.
MODERATOR: When you saw the parajumper coming down with that flag that you're wearing, what did that mean to you?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't know. I was caught a bit off
guard when they started playing the national anthem. I don't think I
actually realized that I've actually just put my name on that beautiful
trophy. This is a dream come true. This by far on my bucket list to
win the Evian Championship now that it's become a major.
But also, they have been such a great supporter of this.
This is my 12th or 13th time I'm here. This was good timing to win this
tournament.
MODERATOR: Talk about the run you're on. Back‑to‑back
victories for the second time in your career. Solheim Cup in Europe.
The Evian Championship trophy is in Norway. What's it like?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't know. It's been such a great
month, five weeks for me, starting off with the Solheim. I mean, the
feelings during the Solheim never really gets old. We had a fantastic
team. It was kind of a great kick start for what became probably the
month of my career, I would probably say so.
I played fantastic the following week where Lydia won.
Then I won in Portland right around the corner from Nike. Then I had my
own event last week.
I must say, just giving back and helping other causes and
getting together with players, I think as much as a fantastical story it
is, it actually gives you a different perspective as well.
I think it's part of how relaxed that I've been all week.
I've been pretty much on my best behavior all week on the course, and it
really pays off.MODERATOR: Questions for Suzann? Please use the microphone.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Is that the par‑3?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: No, that was a bit of a tricky yardage for me. I think I had too much club. I hit a pretty good bunker shot I would say at the time.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, she's 16 and good enough to win
tournaments and major championships. She's a star for the future. She
already is.
She's won I don't know how many LPGA...MODERATOR: Two.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Two. She's a future star for this game.
Q. Sorry to go back to Lydia, but what are the qualities in her that you see that you so admire and respect?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: She just doesn't fade away. She don't
take par for par. Just how she tees it off today. And her birdie on
No. 1, it's probably the toughest pin out there and she makes to look is
easy.
At the same time, it's good for us to get young players
like her into this game, because it keeps the rest of us working even
harder and pushing the limits, pushing the boundaries.
I think it is the beauty of the game. You can play all
different ages. I've been fortunate enough to be part of a great
generation that's kind of on the ‑‑ like a lot of my playing partners on
the Solheim Cup are going to retire.
It's fun that you see the next generation popping up and they're playing fantastic.
Q. You mentioned that your goal is to be top of the world rankings. You're No. 3 now. Talk about that.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think this is just a part of the process. You got to win tournaments; you got to win majors.
With that in mind, this feels pretty natural. If that's
where I want to go, I got to get used to the feel of winning tournaments
and delivering under pressure. That's what I practice for. That's why
I wake up every morning.
I think hopefully this can kick start my action towards No.
1. Inbee kicked off a pretty fantastic year winning this tournament
last year; hopefully I can feed off that and do the same.
MODERATOR: You're projected to go to No. 2 in the
rankings. Still a wide gap from Inbee. Let me give you a couple
numbers here: Your 13th LPGA win; your third of the season; your second
major championship; and this week you crossed the $11 million mark in
career earnings. You're only the seven th player in history to do that.
What do those numbers sound like to you?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't know. I was never good in math
in school. You know what? I just feel very fortunate to do what I do.
I've had my hurdles through the years. I feel great. I'm healthy. I
have a fantastic group around me who are constantly pushing me to become
a better person, a better player. I think it both feeds off for me on
the golf course.
I feel like I've been a lot more relaxed on the golf
course, a round the game, over the last year or so. I try to smile and
enjoy myself as much as I'm very tense and really want to to win.
You can't win them all, but this is definitely a sweet one.
Q. Which yardage and what club did you use on the second shot of the 18th?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't even remember. I was so in
between laying up or not. I was so chicken to lay up. Brian said, If
Lydia lays up, we lay up. I'm like, Okay. She has a wood in her hand.
She's going to go for it.
For me, it was almost the perfect shot. I could just hit
my stop shot and just hit a little fade with my hybrid. It's definitely
become a very tough hole. This is what they want, for us to question
what we're going to do.
Even if you have a two‑shot lead, it does not feel easy.
Q. You've
mentioned being more relaxed. Obviously the mental side of the game is
crucial. When did you realize that needed to ‑‑ maybe the words "chill
out" are a bit ‑‑ when did you kind of realize that?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, a lot of people have tried to tell
me this for years. I guess you can only take action when you first
realize and you kind of ‑‑ I don't know. It's a maturing process, I
think.
I don't know. I'm just in a very good, happy spot in life
right now. I have nothing to worry about. Everyone around me is very
supportive. My family is all great.I must say, I feel like I've come to this age where I'm too old to be around and not be happy. I know you guys don't see me smile that much, but you've probably seen a few more smiles than in the past.
I'm working on it.
MODERATOR: Is that $487, 000 check help with the smile?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I am sure my bank account will smile. I'm sure my caddie will be quite happy with it.
Q. Could you
speak a bit about going down the stretch in a major? What are the
thoughts like? Do you think about the satisfaction of winning and the
hurt of losing?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: No guts no glory, I would say. I
actually felt pretty comfortable. Feel like I've been in this situation
quite a few times. I've had my chances. I feel like I've had enough
chances to win other major championships, especially over the last two
or three years.
This year I've had one disaster where I missed the cut in
the U S. Open. At the same time, that was almost a wake‑up call for
me. I had to see where the hurdle was. I had to look at my game. It
was a question of being honest. I couldn't lie.
For me, it was definitely the putting. It's been a part
I've been trying to improve, and it's nice when it pays off that
quickly. Coming down the stretch I feel more and more comfortable. If I
want to be the best player in the world, I got to get used to being in
this situation.
It's very satisfying when you hit shots and pull them off
at the right time and make putts when you really have to. It's nice to
hit that second shot on 18 and have actually a 3‑putt to win.
Q. (No microphone.)
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I felt too chicken to lay up, to be
honest. I felt like it was right down my yardage, right down my
ballpark, to hit that shot. Came out off exactly how it should.
It was just Lydia kind of, when she went for it, I'm like,
There is no chance I'm laying up. I have to thank her for that
actually.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Can you please repeat that question?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Oh, David. Yeah.
Q. How often you meet, and he visits you or you visit him? And how often?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I worked with David now since 2007; 2008
was my first year with him. We've had a lot of success. It's a
continuous process, what we do. It's nothing new. It don't really
change. My habits are all the same.
It's been great to have him here this week. He usually
doesn't stick around for the weekend, but I guess Evian was nice enough
for him to stay. Had a nice warmup this morning. Felt pretty good. He
left halfway through it and said, You got it. Didn't get too much out
of him today.
He's been a fantastic guy for me to have on my team, not
only as coach, but just as a person. He is a guy I can call and talk
about anything but golf. He's become a very, very good friend of mine.
He has a lot of great stories and a lot of great tips for everything
that I do.
I'm very thankful to have a guy like him on my team.
Q. Thank you. And congratulations for your win.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Thank you. Well, I know it's going to
be one heck of a party with the people I have around me. I think it's
also a little get‑together of Solheim team members and assistants
warming up.
So I think it's going to be a pretty fun night.
MODERATOR: One more. We will finish up in the back.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: First of all, I must say the course
today I thought was in great shape. I didn't know what to really expect
with the weather we had overnight.
The greens, I mean, you wouldn't know it rained overnight.
So that obviously helped to cover them up. I feel like this course,
you need to play it quite a few times to get to know the greens and how
you can use the slopes to your advantage to get close to certain pins.
You can definitely easily be on the wrong side of certain pins and not have the chance to get up and down.
It's become a tougher course. I think 15, 16, 17, 18, have become quite the holes they were hoping for.
16 is not an easy par‑3 with the pin placement today. I think 5 has turned out to be a fantastic par‑3.
So I think it's actually amazing that we did play here this
year considering it's only a year ago they started changing this
course. Knowing Jacques and Franck, they only want to do this in a
world‑class ‑‑ they want to make this a world‑class event, but the way
they do it, they really stand up for their work.
Here we are, 2013, the first year if the Evian Championship as the fifth major.
MODERATOR: Suzann, terrific champion. Congratulations. Enjoy your party.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Thanks.An interview with
MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome runner‑up Lydia Ko to the
interview room at the inaugural Evian Championship. If you would, walk
us through your day. You gave it a good run and fell just a couple
shots short of another LPGA win.
LYDIA KO: Yeah, you know, I was pretty happy with my round
today. Like yesterday I gave myself a lot of the chances to make
birdies, so I hit it much closer to the pins. I probably did half of
that today.
So I don't expect myself to make everything, but it was
really good to know that I could come so close to the winner at a
major. Second is my best finish at a major tournament.
Yeah, hopefully next year will be a 72‑hole event. Other
than that, I was pretty happy with the way I played this week.
MODERATOR: You have now played in 15 LPGA events in your young career and made the cut at all 15.
Talk about your future. You're going back New Zealand, is it tomorrow, to think about what's next?
LYDIA KO: Yeah, you know, I'm going back home tomorrow, so
I'm thanking God that we finished today. I didn't want to delay my
flights. I miss home.
Yeah, obviously my coaching staff, well, my dad is back at
home, so they're definitely going to help me with the decision of when
I'm going to turn pro.
MODERATOR: Questions for Lydia.
LYDIA KO: The next time you see me I may be a pro.
MODERATOR: Wow. Breaking news.
Q. (No microphone.)
LYDIA KO: I would have no idea. Definitely next year.
MODERATOR: Do you plan to play the season‑ending event
that you qualified for, the CME Group Titleholders, with your win in
Canada?
LYDIA KO: That's a question mark. I've got exams, and
they're meant to finish about a week before the tournament. Personally,
I don't want to go there with like five days of practice and just rock
up at the tournament, because I don't really practice during exam time.
Yeah, hopefully I will be able to play because I missed out last year as well, at CME.
MODERATOR: The CME Group Titleholders, which is the
season‑ending event on the LPGA. She qualified for that via her win at
the CN Canadian Women's Open. Before the U.S. Thanksgiving, so
mid‑November.Questions.
Q. How were the greens today?
LYDIA KO: I think the greens were pretty nice. The
greenskeepers did a really good job by keeping the plastics on the
greens.
Fortunately there wasn't much rain. There was like little
showers like on the 3rd or 4th hole. The weather was really good to us.
The course was definitely wetter than yesterday and the day before, but it was definitely playable.
Yeah, I think the greens did get a little bumpy now and
then, but it was in really good condition for how the weather was.
Q. Was it fair, because we saw...
LYDIA KO: Yeah, I misread some putts. I wouldn't blame
the greens that were bumpy, blah, blah, blah. I try not to blame
others.
Some were challenging putts where I thought it was right to
left and it was the other way. I had a couple putts like that.
Obviously not everything is going to be right where I see it.
Q. When you
saw Suzann Pettersen miss her shot on 17, did you believe you could have
an opportunity to come back to minus nine and that maybe you can be
tied at this moment?
LYDIA KO: You know, she was putting really great. After I
saw her hit it that close, I knew that today was her day. I knew she
was going to make the putt. I guess the last two holes really depended
on what I did.
You know, I didn't feel that confident with my putting
today. I left a couple putts short. I was really happy with my up and
down, my chip on 18. It was a good finish.MODERATOR: Anything else for Lydia?
Q. Were you
aware of the sort of history and expectations on your shoulders? What
were you thinking all the way round to try and distract yourself?
LYDIA KO: I knew it was a very tight leaderboard coming
into today. Everybody was playing great. The weather was pretty good.
No, I tried to play my own game, set my own goals. If
somebody else played better, like Suzann did today, I can't do anything
about it.
MODERATOR: Other questions?
LYDIA KO: No, like apart from the first hole, I felt
pretty good. I had a really good start, so that made it much better.
I don't think I felt that nervous today, especially coming
down the last couple holes. I personally thought that Suzann had it in
her bag today. She was playing very solid. If I stuck it close, she
stuck it close. It was that kind of thing today.
No, I didn't feel as nervous as I probably would be normally.
Q. We saw a match between you and Suzann. Could you describe your match with her, your fight?
LYDIA KO: Today, yeah, you know, I know I made birdie on
the 1st and made bogey and then birdie. Then she went par, birdie,
birdie.
I think from there it started to go from who is gonna get
that shot lead. After the third hole, she already had a couple shot
lead and she was making more birdies than me.
So, yeah, I guess, yeah, it was tight. Two shots can
happen anywhere. But, yeah, I don't feel like I was too far off.
MODERATOR: Can we confirm you're expecting to turn pro?
LYDIA KO: Maybe. (Laughter.) You know, it's very soon.
But like I said, it's not only what I'm saying. It's my parents and
everything. They have a big say in it as well.
Obviously people all around the world have their say. I'm
seeing some articles saying, Oh, no you shouldn't. You should wait. I
guess at the end of the day, it's my support crew that's going to help
me make the correct decision.
Yeah, it's secret. I got to get my mom's permission to say anything else.
MODERATOR: Thank you so much for coming. Great week.
LYDIA KO: Thank you.
Ends
Bethan Cutler
Labels: Pro Ladies
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