After a career's worth of top 10 finishes, Chella Choi finally was able to win her first LPGA tournament.
Choi fired a bogey-free final round 66 to win the Marathon Classic in a playoff over Ha Na Jang. Choi's round was near perfect, but almost gave the tournament away on the 72nd hole after a wayward drive into the rough.
“I missed tee shot, but I have confidence after the miss,” Choi said. “So, okay, I try and focus. I just try make a par, so I made a par.”
Choi's final round
Ha Na Jang, also looking for her first LPGA victory, entered the final round with a two stroke lead, and after a shaky front nine, she looked on her way to victory after back to back birdies on 9 and 10. A double bogey on the eleventh hole, however, brought the entire field back into play, and many others would get a turn as the leader as the day progressed. Jang eventually righted the ship, however, and birdied 16 and 17 to get into a tie with Choi. Like Choi, she was unable to birdie the par 5 18th, and a bogey on the first playoff hole gave Choi the victory. The runner-up finish if Jang's second in her rookie season.
What the victory means
For Choi, the win means more than just her first victory on the LPGA Tour. It gives her father the opportunity to retire. Her father has worked as her caddie since her first year on Tour, and Choi would not allow him to walk away until she won her first Tour title.
“So one year, first year, my father say, No, I want to just retire after this. But after 2012 maybe, after second round, I leading so I went media center. So I say, I want to work with my father for first win, so my father until now work with me.”
“I really waited for this time, so I’m really happy." said Choi's father, Jiyeon, after the tournament. "a win is really important, but I try to enjoy her golf today. She won, so really happy.”
For the past several years, Chella Choi has been close to giving her father the retirement he deserves. Entering this week, she finished in the top ten 28 times without a victory, the most by a wide margin.
The rest of the field
Many players got themselves into position to win the tournament. The biggest name was defending champion Lydia Ko, who shot a 30 on the opening nine and had a two stroke lead after Jang's double bogey. Ko, however, could not execute down the stretch, and was only able to record one birdie and one bogey for a final round 67, which kept her one shot back.
“Seeing how average my first day score was, to be top 5 or whatever, I think it’s a good finish for the week" Ko said after the round. "I’m happy that I could give it a run for it to defend the title.”
Shenshen Feng of China birdied the final two holes of the tournament to also finish one shot back. Feng had all pars on her opening nine and completed her round bogey free. The 2012 LPGA Champion was seeking her fourth victory on Tour.
Finishing tied for fifth and three shots out of the playoff were Brittany Lang, Hyo Joo Kim, and Q Baek. For Baek, whose real name is Kyu-jung, it is her highest finish on the LPGA Tour since winning the KEB-Hana Bank Championship in Korea last season.
The 19-year-old Baek is a rookie on the LPGA and won four times in Korea in 2014. This is the third top ten for Lang, who has only one LPGA Tour victory despite notching 45 top ten finishes in her career. For Hyo Joo Kim, a rookie on Tour, it is her 8th top ten finish of the year, one of which was a victory, but continues to trail Sei Young Kim in the Rookie Of The Year standings.
World number one Inbee Park shot a final round 70 and finished T8, four strokes back.
The weather was as much of a storyline as the players. Play was suspended several times for thunderstorms, and tee times on Sunday were moved up into the morning under threat of afternoon and evening thunderstorms.