SAN DIEGO — Na Yeon Choi of South Korea lost her seven- stroke lead, then rallied to shoot 1-under-par 71 on Sunday to win the Samsung World Championship, her first LPGA Tour victory.
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 a 10-foot eagle putt on the sixth hole extended her lead to seven strokes.
But Miyazato tied Choi at 16-under with a 4-foot birdie putt on No. 16. Miyazato took the lead shortly after Choi three-putted for bogey on No. 14.
Then 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.
“I can’t believe that I won,” Choi said. “Throughout the second half I thought I was going to lose it again. Mentally, I felt I was very weak.”
Haas wins by two shots.
Jay Haas overcame a slow start to shoot a 7-under 65, winning his second Greater Hickory Classic in Conover, N.C., 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.
The Associated Press
