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Jennifer
Rosales finished inside the top 30 for the first time in
12 starts in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA)
Tour after she tied for 24th place in the Wegmans LPGA
Championship Sunday in Pittsford, New York.
Rosales,
30, made three birdies and one bogey in the last eight
holes to score a two-under 70 at the Locus Hills Country
Club. For her decent showing, she earned $18,887
(P830,000), her biggest paycheck in five months.
“I hope
to keep this pace, making the cut and earning some money
until the end of the season. Of course, I will not stop
at getting a title,” Rosales said in a text message to
the BusinessMirror.
Her
four-day total 284 was 12 strokes behind champion
Eun-Hee Ji of South Korea, who rolled over three-day
leader Suzann Pettersen of Norway in the final round.
The
22-year-old Ji carded a five-under 67 for a 272 and
pocketed $300,000. Runner-up Pettersen received
$183,986.
“I’m a
fly in the sky. I cannot describe what I feel right
now,” Ji said. “Last year, Suzann beat me at the Hana
Bank Kolon Championship and today I beat Suzann. I was
just trying to put pressure on her, and I feel
comfortable coming from behind rather than leading the
tournament. It’s indescribable.”
Pettersen shot a 72 and surrendered a three-stroke lead
on a sunny, warm day. Ji got in front for the first time
with a seven-foot birdie putt on No. 15, where Pettersen
missed a five-footer for par.
The
28-year-old Norwegian has finishes of second, third and
ninth this year. She won five times on the tour in 2007.
“I just
got out-raced,” Pettersen said. “There’s so many good
young players. They just stay in there....You just got
to keep knocking on that door. Hopefully it will open.”
Jang
Jeong (69), who won in Rochester in 2006, tied for third
at 12 under with fellow South Korean Han Hee-won (69).
Cristie
Kerr (69), preparing for her title defense in the US
Women’s Open, finished fifth at 11 under, two ahead of
top-ranked Lorena Ochoa (69), Christina Kim (68),
Japan’s Ai Miyazato (72) and South Korean Inbee Park
(74).
Ochoa, a
six-time winner this year, won in Rochester in 2005 and
2007. With $2 million (euro1.28 million) in season
earnings, she extended her lead over Annika Sorenstam
(69) to more than a $500,000 (euro320,300). The Swede,
who finished at 2 under in a tie for 33rd, is stepping
away from the US tour at the end of the season.
Michelle
Wie closed with a 68 to tie for 24th at 4 under.
Ji
already had ties for fourth and ninth this year and
earned $300,000 (euro192,185) in the $2 million
(euro1.28 million) tournament to surge from 42nd to 10th
on the money list with $471,413 (euro302,000).
In just
four events last year, she also earned a tie for fifth
at the Women’s British Open. She took up golf at age 13
and won the Korea Women’s Amateur Championship in 2003. |
