SAN DIEGO — Na Yeon Choi blew her best chance for the first LPGA Tour victory of her career.
Her second chance worked out just fine.
After losing a seven-stroke lead Sunday, the South Korean rallied to shoot 1-under 71 Sunday and win the Samsung World Championship on the 18th hole.
"I can't believe that I won," Choi said. "Throughout the second half I thought I was going to lose it again."
Choi finished at 16-under 272 and held off runner-up Ai Miyazato of Japan, who shot a 69, the low round of the day at Torrey Pines.
Choi began the final round with a two-stroke lead, got birdies on two of her first four holes and made a 10-foot eagle putt on the sixth hole to extend her lead to seven strokes.
It looked then as if Choi, who has won four times on the Korean LPGA Tour, would cruise to her first LPGA Tour victory.
But Miyazato, playing in the group in front of Choi and Jiyai Shin of South Korea, made two quick birdies on Nos. 7 and 8 to cut Choi's lead to five.
"I played really good," Miyazato said. "I was very patient."
Choi missed a 2-foot putt on the ninth hole for a bogey, cutting the lead to four heading into the back nine.
She continued to struggle with two consecutive bogeys, and Miyazato tied Choi at 16-under with a 4-foot birdie putt on No. 16. Miyazato took the lead shortly after, when Choi three-putted for bogey on No. 14.
Choi has been working with a sports psychologist on her mental game and was repeating some of the lessons she has recently learned.
"Mentally I felt I was very weak," Choi said. "I kept telling myself to be positive. I wanted to be positive about everything."
On the 18th hole, it was Miyazato's turn to make a mistake. With 203 yards remaining for her second shot, Miyazato's 5-wood approach hit the bank in front of the 18th green and rolled into the water. She dropped in front of the pond but could not get up and down for par.
"Mentally I felt I was very weak," Choi said. "I kept telling myself to be positive. I wanted to be positive about everything."
Choi's second shot on the 18th reached the front left of the green and her third shot came to rest 5 feet below the pin. Choi, who had missed several putts of equal or less distance, converted the birdie for the victory - no easy task.
"I felt like I had just turned professional today," Choi said when facing the putt for victory. "I was so nervous." NATIONWIDE TOUR Haas wins with 65
CONOVER, N.C. - Jay Haas overcame a slow start to shoot a 7-under 65, winning his second Greater Hickory Classic by two shots over Russ Cochran and Andy Bean.
Haas, who also won the Champions Tour event in 2005, set a tournament-record of 18-under 198 at Rock Barn Golf and Spa's Robert Trent Jones course. His three-day total broke the mark set by R.W. Eaks in 2007 by one shot.
It also made the 13-time winner on the 50-and-over tour the second repeat winner in the tournament's seven-year history. Eaks won back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008.
Cochran and Bean also shot 65 on Sunday, with Hal Sutton (65) and second-round co-leader Nick Price (68) tied for fourth at 15 under . Little Rock's Ron Whittaker, tied for fourth after three rounds, shot a 79 Sunday and fell into a tie for 43rd at 3-under 281, earning $2,882.
PGA EUROPEAN
Spaniard wins by one
OBERWALTERSDORF, Austria - Rafael Cabrera-Bello of Spain shot a course record 11-under 60 to win his first European Tour title by one stroke over Benn Barham at the Austrian Open.
Cabrera-Bello was in seventh place overnight, trailing leader Barham by eight strokes. He overtook the Englishman with 11 birdies to finish at 20-under 264.
Cabrera-Bello missed an eagle putt on No. 18 that would have given him a European Tour record 59 to match the best score ever on the PGA Tour.
Barham bogeyed the par-4 third in a 2-under 69. Soren Hansen of Denmark was two strokes back, placing third for the second consecutive week.
PGA CUP U.S. wins title
LUSS, Scotland - Scott Hebert won all five of his matches, and the U.S. club pros dominated Great Britain 1 & Ireland in singles for a 17/2-1 8/2 victory in the PGA Cup.
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The Americans won 8 /2 points from the 10 singles matches, beating by one point their largest margin of victory on foreign soil set in 1983 at Muirfield. The United States has twice won by 12 points playing at home.
Hebert, a former club pro champion from Traverse City, Mich., had a 2-up victory over Jon Bevan to become the only player on The Carrick course at Loch Lomond to win all five of his matches.
Sonny Skinner won the first of 10 singles matches over Barry Taylor to go 4-0 for the week, while Steve Schneiter of Sandy, Utah, also had a 1-up victory for a 4-0 record.
Sports, Pages 17 on 09/21/2009