LPGA sudden-death play-off...
A record breaking thriller

신지애가 오늘 LPGA Tournament에서 Paula Creamer와의 pressure-filled Play-off at the 392-yard 18th hole을 지켜봤다.

To my biased view, Shin proved to be a better player throught the play-off. While Paula seemed to have been extremely uptight, Jiyai looked to me loosy-goosy.

After uneventful first two holes in ties, on the third play-off hole, Shin hit a way-out Tee shot to the right on a hillside rough with the ball above the feet. I thought that was the end of the game. From the fairway, Creamer hit her second shot into the bunker, missing the potential chance for the outright win.
Shin hit the ball straight onto the green but it rolled into the same bunker. Both came out the bunker but Shin stuck the ball about two feet from the hole. However, Creamer made the 7-foot putt and Shin tied it to go to the fourth hole.


In the fourth hole, both were close to the hole after the second shots.Shin missed a breaking birdie putt, and Creamer missed a straight downhill putt. Both tied again. No one seemed to pull off a decisive winning stroke.

In the fifth play-off hole, from almost a same distance of about 12 feet, Paula missed the birdie putt by being two-inch too short and Jiyai missed by two inches to the right.

In the sixth, Jiyai hit a tee shot extremely to the left (dangerously, intentionally or not), and put herself much closer to the hole. Paula hit to the right far away from the hole on her second shot while Jiyai put the ball 20 feet from the hole. Both missed to a tie again.

By the seventh, it was getting dark and I was already too late for the dinner appointment. Actually, because of my wanting to put up the webpage for the final score, there were three desperate persons in this game. Paula was short, landing the ball near the bunker in a severe uphill rough. Jiyai put the ball on the green about 20 feet. Jiyai's birdie putt came too short a few inches. Paula made the critical putt, bringing to a tie again.

Oh, my god, they are going for the 8th play-off and Paula was on the 18th tee again. At this point, we were already 30 minutes too late. The problem was that my wife was a part of the dinner engagement. She was quite restless for the last 30 minutes and was about to go to a divorce attorney if I stayed stuck in front of the TV and computer screen.

With a great regret, reluctantly, I had to leave home for the restaurant. In the restaurant, my daughter found out on her i-phone that the 8th game was tied again and they were going to resume the game tomorrow morning. According to the golf commentator of the Golf Channel, they had broken the tournament record for longest sudden-death play-off already.

Throughout the play-off, each player exchanged the chance to win but, somehow, tied each time. Naturally, I was hoping that Jiyai Shin would eventually came through as the champion.
Thanks to both players, I was late for my dinner appointment and I was the only loser already even the game wasn't finished.
There's only one winner in this game. We will know by tomorrow.

Both players seemed to have been in a slump. Paula Creamer seemed to have slipped more than Jiyai Shin. Jiyai Shin is 13th in the money list while Paula Creamer is at 24th. It will be a cut-throat dog fight tommorrow.