Lim keeps her head down and her follow through strong |
THOMPSONVILLE, Mich.
– The 20th Michigan PGA Women’s Open at Crystal Mountain Resort was
an international stop to the very last shot.
The $40,000 state
championship came down to a pair of 25-year-old golfers of Asian descent who
live in Australia, and it was Korean Inhong Lim who made a birdie on the first
hole of sudden-death Wednesday to turn back hard-charging Corie Hou, who is
Chinese.
Inhong Lim holds up her trophy |
Lim, a former Ohio
State golfer who went to high school in Melbourne, Australia, rolled in an eight-foot
birdie putt on the par 5 No. 18, the first playoff hole, to win the $6,000
first-place check. She finished regulation play with a 71 for 4-under-par 212.
Hou shot a
4-under-par 68, the low round of the day, to set up the playoff. On the extra
hole her approach shot from 100 yards in the rough hopped just over the green.
She chipped to just inches to set up a par save, but Lim ended things with the
birdie.
“I had good
confidence playing that hole,” Lim said. “I birdied that hole two times out of
three, and I know that hole now. I was like, don’t leave it short and don’t
leave it low. I hit it perfect.”
Hou, who was
captain of the golf team at the University of Hawaii and had a previous
professional win in Spain, said she was happy for Lim, who she has competed
against in Australia in both amateur and the professional ranks.
“If she was going to
win in a playoff, I’m glad she did it with a birdie,” she said. “Two Aussies in
a playoff in Michigan – it’s not too bad. I’ve never been in a playoff before,
and now I have that experience. I was pretty calm, but my (approach) shot was
just a few yards too long.”
Three professional
golfers from the United States finished at 214, two shots out of the
playoff. Erica Popson of Davenport,
Fla., Rachael Schmidt of Elk River, Minn., and Ashely Tait of Littleton, Colo.,
each shot 72 for 214.
Kimberly Dinh of
Midland, who will be a junior at the University of Wisconsin, finished as the
low amateur and had the best finish of the 41 Michigan golfers in the field of
87. She shot 71 for 215. Michigan State golfer Christine Meier of Rochester
Hills shot 74 and was in the group of five golfers who finished at even-par 216
for the 54-hole event.
Suzanne
Green-Roebuck, a two-time former champion, closed with a 71 for 218 to tie for
12th.
Lim, who plays on
the LPGA Symetra Tour and is headed for that tour’s next stop in Harris, Mich.,
in the Upper Peninsula (Friday through Sunday), said she had been playing well,
and felt something good was going to happen in her game.
“I was playing very
consistent,” she said. “I feel so happy to be here. I turned 25 on Monday, so
it was a great birthday present for myself.”
She planned to call
her parents as soon as possible.
“They have no idea,” she said. “They are flying today from
Korea back to Australia. I will call them when they land.”
At one point Hou
was 6-under-par in her round, but left a par putt on the edge of the cup on 15
and lipped out a par-save at 17.
“I suppose I could
have held my nerves in the last five holes a little bit better,” she said. “It
all comes down to experience. The front nine was so much fun. The confidence
was just coming out of my ears. I lost in a playoff to a birdie. I’m proud of
how I did.”
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