ROGERS -- Arkansas junior-to-be Gabriela Lopez made the most of her sponsor's exemption into the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
Lopez, who received a sponsor's exemption in last year's tournament but missed the cut by 11 strokes, was around for the final round in her second go-round at the NW Arkansas Championship and played a steady three days to finish at even-par 213 for the tournament.
"I'm just really, really excited and proud of myself," Lopez said. "I just did a great job with my coaches, with (Arkansas coach) Shauna (Estes-Taylor). All of them have done a great job working with me and I was just blessed to have this opportunity to play with the top players in the world."
Lopez, a GolfWeek First Team All-American this season as a sophomore, opened this weekend with a 1-under par 70 on Thursday. She followed with a 1-over 72 on Friday to make the cut-line at even par, sinking a key birdie putt at the par 3-17th to stick around for Sunday's play.
"I felt very comfortable with my game this time and very comfortable with the environment and all the players," Lopez said. "Just not getting nervous and knowing that I have the game to get to this level and get to this place."
In her Sunday final round, Lopez made 16 pars, one birdie and one bogey to close with an even-par 71. "I don't this is going to be my last time (to make a cut), and it's just motivation for the future," Lopez said. "It's just me getting to know my game a little more and knowing what I need to work on. So I just feel very proud."
Not Wie's Day
U.S. Women's Open champion Michelle Wie entered Sunday's final round of the NW Arkansas Championship with a two-stroke lead after back-to-back rounds of 66 to open the tournament. But Sunday was a different story for Wie, who hit a wall on her final 10 holes of the tournament.
After eight consecutive pars to open the round, three consecutive bogies at holes 9, 10 and 11 dropped Wie from a share of the lead to four shots back at 7-under par. She eventually finished the tournament at 8-under, good for a tie for eighth place behind winner Stacy Lewis.
Wie was attempting to become the first Women's Open champion to follow with an LPGA win in the next tour event since Meg Mallon accomplished the feat in 2004. The last tour player to win a tournament following an LPGA major was Inbee Park, who won the NW Arkansas Championship last year just two weeks after winning the LPGA Championship.
Park Not Satisfied
Defending tournament champion Inbee Park finished tied for 13th with her seven-under-par finish, including a weekend best three-under Sunday.
The result bumped her from fourth in the Race to the CME Globe standings to fifth and left her wanting more.
"I was hitting the ball really good last couple days," Park said. "Today I had a couple of missed shots but obviously made a couple more putts. Still feel I left a lot of birdies out there. Putting just wasn't great this week."
Mediocre front ends of rounds hampered her finish. Five of her six bogeys on the weekend came on the front, while eight of her 13 birdies came on the back. Sunday she had more bogeys (three) and birdies (six) than in any other round.
"I feel like I left 10 shots out there with the putter," Park said. "I feel like I hit a lot of good shots out there. I'm really happy with the long game but the short game wasn't there."
Former Champions Struggle
Pinnacle Country Club wasn't particularly kind to former champs this week.
Of the five previous professional winners at the Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship, only one, Park, finished in the top 50.
Seon Hwa Lee, who won the tournament in 2008, withdrew after a five-over-par first round; 2012 champ Ai Miyazato missed the cut by a single stroke; two-time champion Yani Tseng finished tied for 64th with a one-over-par and Jiyai Shin did not make the trip to Rogers.
Stacy Lewis won the inaugural Northwest Arkansas Championship unofficially in 2007. Rain caused the tournament to be cancelled after just one round and Lewis, then an amateur at the University of Arkansas, held the lead at the time of the cancellation, though results are declared unofficial.
Rosales Feeling Young Again
The fist-pump Jennifer Rosales gave after she birdied hole No. 18 was well-earned.
Rosales had her best finish since 2005 as the birdie bumped her into a tie for seventh with an eight-under-par at the Northwest Arkansas Championship.
"I was really happy," Rosales said. "I tried not to look at the leaderboard but it was right in front of me. That was huge."
Rosales last won on the Tour in 2005 and won the World Cup of Golf with Filipino countrywoman Dorothy Delasin in 2008. Injuries have hampered her since and even though she re-gained full-time status on the Tour thanks to her finish in the money list last year, she still plays a limited schedule.
That's left her thrilled with the weekend's result.
After 15 years, I'm trying to want to play and love it. It's still my passion that's why I'm still out here," Rosales said. "It's still fun. Especially when you're playing well. It's still fun today. Seriously."
Southeastern Conference Represents
Northwest Arkansas Championship winner Stacy Lewis drew the biggest crowd and most chants from the gallery on the weekend. But fellow former SEC golfers had their moments with the crowd, too.
Alabama's Brooke Pancake and Mississippi State's Dori Carter had the best finishes of the group as the two tied for 23rd with a five-under-par. South Carolina's Katie Burnett, LSU's Megan McChrystal, Texas A&M's Julia Boland and Pancake's former Crimson Tide teammate Jennifer Kirby also made the cut and finished the tournament on Sunday.
Pancake didn't even feel she was in hostile territory.
"Love it. It is so much fun," she said. "Everywhere you go out here you hear Roll Tide, even the Arkansas fans, they'll pull for other SEC players. It's nice."
* - Eric Bolin contributed to this report
Sports on 06/30/2014