Pettersen breaks title drought by five shots
Suzann Pettersen had not visited the winner's circle since winning five times during the 2007 season.
That changed Sunday when she closed with a one-under 70 to finish at 15-under- par 269 for a five-stroke victory at the Canadian Women's Open.
Pettersen missed the 72-hole scoring record by a single stroke.
"This feels absolutely great. I've been playing very good since 2007," said Pettersen, who earned $412,500 for the win. "I gave myself a lot of chances to win tournaments, and like I've been saying, if you put yourself in position often enough, you'll figure out how to close the deal."
Angela Stanford (70), Karrie Webb (69), Morgan Pressel (66), Ai Miyazato (67) and Momoko Ueda (65) shared second place at 10-under-par 274.
Pettersen, a playoff loser to M.J. Hur last week, had a comfortable five- stroke lead entering the final round, but tripped to a bogey on the second hole. She came right back with a birdie on No. 3 to get back to 14-under.
After a pair of pars, Pettersen birdied the sixth from seven feet out, but gave that stroke back with a bogey on the par-three eighth. That trimmed her lead to three strokes, but that is as low as it would drop.
"It felt like I was scrambling around. I only hit 13 greens," Pettersen stated. "I chipped in once, missed some short putts. Obviously some nerves were showing."
Around the turn, Pettersen caught fire with three straight birdies from the 10th. That moved her to minus-17, where she led by six.
Pettersen, who had coughed up her last two 54-hole leads, stumbled to bogeys on 13 and 14, but was still five strokes clear of the field. Pettersen steadied herself and parred the final four holes to seal the win.
"It feels really good to win this one after last week's loss in the playoff," Pettersen admitted. "But you never feel safe. I had a five-, six-shot lead on the back nine, but you're playing against such good players. Like an eagle, or a chip-in, everything is possible. So you've just got to make sure you can stay on top of what you do."
Webb was the one who got closest to Pettersen. She poured in three birdies in a four-hole stretch from the second. That jumped her to minus-11 and she was three back after Pettersen's bogey on the eighth.
The Australian slipped back to minus-10 with a bogey on the 13th. She recovered that stroke with a birdie on the 16th, but bogeyed 17 to fall into a share of second place.
Stanford had an eagle, two birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey in her round of 70. Miyazato posted five birdies and single bogey to end in a share of second.
Pressel carded six birdies and a bogey in her 66, while Ueda poured in seven birdies and a bogey to shoot 65.
In-Kyung Kim closed with a two-under 69 to take seventh place at nine-under- par 275. Anna Nordqvist (67) and Vicky Hurst (67) ended one stroke further back at minus-eight.
