Longs Drugs Challenge: History

Longs Drugs Challenge Returns
October 9 through 12, 2008
Danville, California • Blackhawk CC

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2007 Champion Suzann Pettersen	2007 Pettersen outlasts Ochoa in two-hole, sudden-death playoff at Longs Drugs Challenge Norwegian improves playoff record to a perfect 2-0 mark LPGA.com - October 7, 2007 DANVILLE, Calif.– The fight atop the leaderboard at the 2007 Longs Drugs Challenge was a showdown between the top-two players on the LPGA Official Money List and the Rolex Player of the Year race. Lorena Ochoa (69-70-67-71=277), who leads both races, forced 54-hole leader Suzann Pettersen (75-65-64-73=277) into a playoff after overcoming a two-stroke deficit entering the final round with a 1-under-par 71 on Sunday afternoon, but Pettersen outlasted the Rolex Rankings number one player in a two-hole, sudden-death playoff to claim her third victory on the LPGA Tour this year and a $165,000 winner's check. "We both pushed each other. We are competitive, but at the same time, we kind of support each other and want the best out of everybody,” Pettersen said. “But, I mean, what better scenario than beating Lorena in a playoff? I would take that if you gave me the chance, so it was nice.” Pettersen entered Sunday's final round with a one-shot lead over Lorie Kane (69-69-67-77=282), and was two strokes ahead of Ochoa. However, Ochoa began her charge straight from the start, as she opened her final round with a birdie, and after Pettersen bogeyed the same hole, the duo found itself knotted atop the leaderboard. When Pettersen bogeyed the par-5, 446-yard third hole, Ochoa moved into sole possession of first place for the first time, but Pettersen answered back with a birdie on five to again hold a share of the lead. After Ochoa birdied seven and Pettersen recorded her third bogey of the day on the ninth hole, 15-time Tour winner Ochoa carried a two-stroke lead into her final nine holes of play at the Blackhawk Country Club in Danville, Calif. Trouble began immediately on the backside for Ochoa and Pettersen, as Pettersen went bogey-bogey on holes 10 and 11 before bouncing back with a birdie on 12, and Ochoa made her first mistake of the day with a bogey on 11 before four-putting the par-3, 155-yard 12th hole for a double bogey. With both players losing strokes, Ochoa's final-round playing partner and LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame member Juli Inkster (74-66-71-70=281) moved into the mix, as her birdie on 12 moved the three women into a tie atop the leaderboard. “When I walked off 12 making that birdie, getting it back to nine-under and then getting up on the 13th green and you see Lorena is only at 10-under, my caddie said to me, ‘Hey, we're right there.' That kind of gave me a little kick,” Pettersen added. Ochoa reclaimed a one stroke lead with an ensuing 12-foot birdie putt on 13 as Inkster bogeyed the same hole, but Pettersen rolled in birdies on 15 and 16 to reclaim a one-stroke lead over the top-ranked player. Ochoa forced herself into third playoff of the season, and sixth of her professional career, with a 10-foot putt for birdie on 17. The duo retraced their steps to the 18th tee, and both made par on the first playoff hole. On their second attempt in the playoff, Pettersen knocked her second shot 10 feet closer to the pin than Ochoa, and made an eight-foot birdie putt to clinch her third win of the season. “In the playoffs, you try to be more aggressive. You don't have too many holes, and you just have to try to make a birdie,” Ochoa said. “(Suzann) put the ball a lot closer than me, and she won the playoff the way it should be, being aggressive and making a birdie.” Inkster rounded out the top-three places at the Longs Drugs Challenge with a 7-under-par 281 for third place, while Kane and Natalie Gulbis (74-71-71-66=282) tied for fourth.

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	© 2008 Longs Drugs Challenge. All Rights Reserved Copyright © Photos by Danny Salz & Dina Wong - EM&PS, Frank Kay, Getty Images	2007 Champion Suzann Pettersen