LPGA draws crowds to Blackhawk

Sophie Gustafson won the CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge for the fifth LPGA win in her career, although her last was in 2003. The tournament concluded Sunday at Blackhawk.

“It feels fantastic to win. It’s one of my bests. I have been struggling with my putting, but my long game has been really good,” said Gustafson, who takes home a purse of $165,000.

After six long years of wondering when a win would come, Gustafson put together four solid rounds of golf at this year’s Challenge. Gustafson finished with a tournament-record 20-under-par 268 score, and beat out the runner-up and World’s top-ranked player, Lorena Ochoa, by four strokes.

Gustafson (65-69-66-68) started strong and never looked back, as she had control of the leaderboard all four days, just sharing it once after Saturday’s third round with Ochoa. Starting the final round all tied up with Ochoa, Gustafson birdied the first hole of the day, staying determined as she has been all week at Blackhawk. Her front nine holes saw an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys, while the back nine earned just a single birdie. The 4-under-par 68 turned out to be just what was needed to pick up her fifth career victory and first title since the Samsung World Championship in 2003. This was one of her best efforts.

Though Ochoa kept it close for much of the day, Gustafson wasn’t at all fazed by the fact that she was playing with the No. 1 player in the world.

“It’s not easy,” she said of playing with Ochoa. “It’s a full-time job taking care of myself, so I didn’t really pay much attention to what she was doing.”

The 12-year LPGA Tour member now has five career victories, after close to a six-year drought. In 2003, she won the Samsung World Championship. Her first three wins came in 2000 (Chick-Fil-A Charity Championship, Weetabix Women’s British Open) and 2001 (Subaru Memorial of Naples). Coming into this week’s event, her best finish was the runner-up at the Evian Masters. Earlier this year, Gustafson qualified for her seventh European Solheim Cup team, based on her top-5 ranking on the Ladies European Tour (LET) points list, and recorded a 1-3-0 record for the team. She also crossed the $5 million mark in career earnings this year at the CN Canadian Women’s Open, where she tied for 10th.

Coming in solo-second this week is Ochoa, as she finished six strokes behind Gustafson at 16-under-par 272. This is third-straight time that she has finished in the top-5 at this event in Danville, but she has yet to wind up in the winner’s circle on the 18th-green. The Mexican player was even-par on Sunday, recording three birdies and three bogeys. Taking home the $100,391 runner-up check, Ochoa has crossed the $1 million mark in season earnings. She now has earned more than $14 million in career dollars.

“Well, for sure I didn’t play my best today,” she said. “I think, you know, just for different reasons. I didn’t get off to the best start, and I think Sophie was 4-under after five holes. But, you know, today was just her day. She won the tournament, and she deserved it. She played a really good round today. So, I guess I’m just going to try to be happy with second place.”

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