News and notes for the week of May 11, 2009

1. Kerr breaks 54-hole tie to capture 2009 Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill
2. Ochoa looks to claim fourth straight Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite title
3. This week: Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite, Upper Montclair Country Club, Clifton, N.J., $2,000,000, May 14-17, 2009; TV Times; GCSAA Information
4. Pipeline to the LPGA Tour, May 3, 2009
5. Rolex Rankings move of the week
6. Race for the Cup
7. Next week: LPGA Corning Classic, Corning Country Club, Corning, N.Y., $1,500,000, May 21-24, 2009; TV Times; GCSAA Information
8. LIFE Event celebrates 10th anniversary
9. Pair ties for third at 13-under-par 271
10. Inkster is top mom on Mother's Day
11. Hanna-Williams concludes two-week stretch with top-15 performance
12. Oyama earns top rookie honors as she sets new career-best finish
13. Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite opens gates to 2,000 youth, families
14. ANNIKA Fragrance available
15. Lopez plays for women's health
16. Posthumus wins first T&CP Central Section Championship

1. Kerr breaks 54-hole tie to capture 2009 Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill
American notches 12th-career LPGA victory; becomes first two-time winner at Kingsmill
 
WILLIAMSBURG, Va., May 10, 2009 - Once her final putt dropped on the 72nd hole of Kingsmill Resort & Spa's River Course, 12-time LPGA Tour winner Cristie Kerr became the first two-time champion of the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill.

Kerr used a final round 1-under-par 70 - with birdies on holes four, 15, and a bogey on hole 13 - to finish at 16-under-par 268 (69-63-66-70) and secure her 12th LPGA Tour victory by two strokes over 2008 Longs Drugs Challenge champion In-Kyung Kim (68-64-67-71=270, -14).

"It was pretty tight all the way through there until the last couple of holes, and I just tried to play my own game," said Kerr, who is sixth on the LPGA Career Money List with more than $9.6 million in career earnings since 1997. "I tried to be good mentally on every shot, and the momentum kind of swung in my favor when I birdied 15, and held par on 16."

On a day that began with Kerr and Lindsey Wright, of Australia, tied for the lead and only a two-stroke separation between the top-four players on the leaderboard, the final round stayed pretty close through 15 holes for the last two groups. On hole 16, Kerr was the only player of the final two pairings who managed to save par on the par-4, 405-yard hole, and that turned out to be the final break she needed to claim the $330,000 winner's check.

"That's the toughest pin on the golf course, and my caddie, John Killeen, and I just said game plan is to be 10 yards short of the pin no matter what we're hitting in," Kerr said. "I was hitting middle right center of the green and I kind of pulled it a little bit, but I hit a really solid shot, and it left me with a really tough putt. And I did everything I could to get it six feet by the hole, and I made it for par. So that hole was a bear today."

This week's victory for the Florida native is Kerr's first since the 2008 Safeway Classic Presented by Pepsi last August. Kerr was also among three players of the 75 who made the cut to card all four rounds under par. Her second-round, 8-under-par 63 tied a tournament record.

Kim, who hails from South Korea, finished up the week 14-under-par 270 to pick up her second runner-up finish and 14th top-10 finish in her three-year LPGA Tour career. Kim moved up the leaderboard as the tournament progressed with post-round standings of tied for ninth, tied for second and third entering Sunday's final round.

"I played solid all week, I think," Kim said. "I hit the ball well, especially onto the fairways and greens. On the weekend, I had some three-putts, and that really killed me in the end. But, I think it's all a good experience. I was in control, I think, and I played better than last time. I wish I could have made more birdies, and hopefully I can win some tournaments."

 
2. Ochoa looks to claim fourth straight Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite title
 
CLIFTON, N.J. - Over the past three years, Lorena Ochoa's name has become synonymous with the Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite. The 26-year-old world number one has won the event in each of the last three seasons, once at Wykagyl Country Club in 2007 and twice at Upper Montclair Country Club, where the tournament returns for a third time in 2009 - complete with a $2 million purse.

With a victory this week, Mexico's Ochoa can join LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame member Annika Sorenstam and 20-time Tour winner Laura Davies as the only players to win the same tournament four consecutive times. Sorenstam, who stepped away from the game at the end of the 2008 season, won the Mizuno Classic five straight years from 2001-05. Davies won the Standard Register PING four consecutive times from 1994-97. Nine players - including Ochoa - have won the same tournament in three consecutive years. Incidentally, Ochoa has also won the Rolex Player of the Year awards and Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average three consecutive times.

Ochoa has already won twice this season (Honda LPGA Thailand, Corona Championship) and is on her way to a sixth straight season with at least $1 million in earnings. She has not missed a cut since the 2005 Longs Drugs Challenge, a streak of 82 events.

Looking back, the last person to win the Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite prior to Ochoa was then-rookie Paula Creamer, who became a Rolex First-Time Winner in 2005, with her victory. It was a win that helped her secure Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honors and also earn her way onto the victorious U.S. Solheim Cup Team in just one year of eligibility. Four years later, Creamer leads the points race for the 2009 U.S. squad with 595.50 points.

Not trailing too far behind, though, is the 2009 Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill champion Cristie Kerr, who will lead a cast of 143 players hoping to end Ochoa's reign at the Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite. Kerr broke a 54-hole tie for the lead with Lindsey Wright last week and edged out third-year Tour member In-Kyung Kim by two strokes. It was the 12th LPGA Tour victory for Kerr, who was also the first player to capture the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill title twice in its seven-year history. Kerr has not yet won the Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite, but with six top-10 finishes in eight starts this season, the current LPGA Official Money List leader ($711,624) will be in contention. She will be joined by 2008 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Yani Tseng, 2009 Kraft Nabisco Championship winner Brittany Lincicome and American Brittany Lang who has had a tie for fourth and tie for second since the tournament moved to Upper Montclair Country Club in 2007.

 
3. This week: Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite, Upper Montclair Country Club, Clifton, N.J., $2,000,000, May 14-17, 2009; TV Times; GCSAA Information
 
Par: 36-36, 72
Yardage: 6,413
Format: 72-hole stroke play
    Winner: $300,000
    Runner-up: $183,814
Field: 144 players
Defending champion:  Lorena Ochoa
Victory margin: Defeated Morgan Pressel, Catriona Matthew, Brittany Lang, Na Yeon Choi, Sophie Gustafson by one stroke
Media center: 973-968-7385
LPGA media contact: Mike Scanlan
 
● TV Times
 
ESPN2
May 15     1:30-3:30 p.m.
May 16-17 2-4 p.m.
 
All times Eastern
 
● GCSAA Information
 
Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
Upper Montclair Country Club
Clifton, N.J.
 
GCSAA Golf Course Superintendent: Michael Brunelle, 973-417-8199
Course architect, date: Robert Trent Jones, Sr., 1956
Most recent redesign/renovation: John Harvey, 2009
 
Course grasses
Tees - Bentgrass; poa annua
Fairways - Bentgrass; poa annua
Greens - Bentgrass; poa annua
Rough - Bentgrass; Kentucky bluegrass; perennial ryegrass; fescue
 
For more information, access GCSAA Fact Sheets at http://www.gcsaa.org/news/TournamentFactSheets.aspx
 

4. Pipeline to the LPGA Tour, May 3, 2009
 
The players finishing in the top 10 on the final 2009 Duramed FUTURES Tour money list will receive membership onto the 2010 LPGA Tour. Please see current standings below.

Next tournament: $100,000, Mercedes-Benz of Kansas City Championship, Leawood South Country Club, Leawood, Kan., May 15-17, 2009
 
Charity: National Kidney Foundation Serving Kansas & Western Missouri
 
For more information, log on to www.duramedfuturestour.com.

 
5. Rolex Rankings move of the week
 
Cristie Kerr's victory at last week's Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill - which showcased nine of the top-10 and 17 of the top-20 on the Rolex Rankings - moved her up three spots to the third-ranked player in the world, surpassing Paula Creamer as the top-ranked American. Lorena Ochoa, of Mexico, and Yani Tseng, of Chinese Taipei, still lead the Rolex Rankings in first and second, respectively.

Another large leap went to Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill runner-up In-Kyung Kim, of South Korea. Kim's 14th LPGA career top-10 finish now makes her the 10th-best player in the world after a 10-spot move. A tie for third by Song-Hee Kim, of South Korea, also moved her up seven positions into 16th.

The Rolex Rankings are sanctioned by the five major women's professional golf tours: the LPGA; Ladies European Tour (LET); Ladies Professional Golfers' Association of Japan (LPGA of Japan); Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA); Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPG); as well as the Ladies Golf Union (LGU), which administers the RICOH Women's British Open. The Rolex Rankings are the only women's world rankings that incorporate player performances from the five major tours and the Duramed FUTURES Tour, the official developmental tour of the LPGA.

 
6. Race for the Cup
 
The Solheim Cup on Twitter. The 2009 Solheim Cup has launched its own Twitter page at http://twitter.com/solheim_cup. Worldwide fans of the biennial, transatlantic match-play competition can check out The Solheim Cup page for behind-the-scenes content in the months leading up to the event, which takes place at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., Aug 17-23.
 
Kerr earns 40 points toward 2009 U.S. Solheim Cup team. With her victory at the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill, four-time U.S. Solheim Cup Team member Cristie Kerr earned 40 more points toward a spot on the 2009 squad. The 31-year-old remains in second in the U.S. Solheim Cup team points race, but has closed the gap between her (554 points) and leader Paula Creamer (595.50 poins). Six other Americans earned points for their top-15 finishes, notably Wendy Ward, Angela Stanford, Natalie Gulbis, Juli Inkster, Michelle Wie and Allison Hanna-Williams. The most significant move among the group was Gulbis from 13th place to tenth - automatic qualification for the squad - thanks to her tie for seventh with Stanford. She now has 175.50 points.

The Solheim Cup is a biennial, trans-Atlantic team match-play competition featuring the best U.S.-born players from the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour and the best European members from the Ladies European Tour (LET). The U.S. Team leads the competition, 7-3, and has never lost The Solheim Cup on home soil.
   
Tickets are on-sale for the biennial event with options including the Weekly Grounds ticket, the PING Pavilion ticket and the Solheim After Sundown ticket. For tickets and more information about the 2009 Solheim Cup as well as lodging options in the Sugar Grove, Illinois area, log on to www.SolheimCup.com.
 
2009 Solheim Cup countdown:

- 34 days until double points are awarded at the McDonald's LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola

- 83 days until U.S. and European teams are announced following the RICOH Women's British Open.

- 102 days until matches begin at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

7. Next week: LPGA Corning Classic, Corning Country Club, Corning, N.Y., $1,500,000, May 21-24, 2009; TV Times; GCSAA Information
 
Par: 36-36, 72
Yardage: 6,223
Format: 72-hole stroke play
    Winner: $225,000
    Runner-up: $137,861
Field: 144 players
Defending champion: Leta Lindley
Victory margin: Defeated Jeong Jang on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff
Tournament information: 607-962-4441
 
● TV Times
 
Golf Channel
May 21-22 6:30-8:30 p.m.
May 23     6:30-9:30 p.m.
May 24     7-9:30 p.m.
 
All times Eastern
 
● GCSAA Information
 
Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
Corning Country Club
Corning, N.Y.
 
GCSAA Class A Golf Course Superintendent, contact: Dennis A. Fitzwater, 607-936-3711
Course architect, date: Thomas Winton, 1919
Most recent redesign/renovation: Forse Design, 2004
 
Course grasses
Tees - Bentgrass; poa annua
Fairways - Bentgrass; poa annua
Greens - Bentgrass; poa annua
Rough - Kentucky bluegrass; perennial ryegrass; fescue
 
For more information, access GCSAA Fact Sheets at www.GCSAA.org
 

8. LIFE Event celebrates 10th anniversary. Raising $5 million for breast cancer research since 2000 is just one reason for the Val Skinner Foundation to celebrate the 10th annual staging of the LIFE Event on May 18. Remembering a friend and teaming up with her peers (LPGA Pros In the Fight to Eradicate breast cancer) to raise awareness and improve technology in treating and eliminating breast cancer is what keeps LPGA Tour veteran Val Skinner motivated each year. This year's LIFE Event (the first of two) will be hosted at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. It has been hailed as the biggest single-day golf event fundraiser for breast cancer initiatives and benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure - the LPGA's official national charity - and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ). Past participants include Nicole Castrale, Beth Daniel, Brittany Lincicome, Nancy Lopez, Lorena Ochoa, Morgan Pressel, Angela Stanford, Sherri Steinhauer and Karrie Webb.

Val reveals the top-10 accomplishments of LIFE at LPGA.com. For more information, visit ValSkinnerFoundation.org.

 
9. Pair ties for third at 13-under-par 271. Song-Hee Kim, of South Korea, and Lindsey Wright, of Australia, both recorded season-best finishes at the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill, as the duo tied for third at 13-under-par 271. Kim, a third year Tour member, finished her final round on the Kingsmill Resort & Spa's River Course at even-par 71. In the second round in Williamsburg, Va., Kim (69-63-68-71) carded a tournament record and career-best 8-under-par 63, propelling her into the top-10, where she was able to stay the final two days of competition. It marked her third top-10 finish, and fifth top-25 finish in seven tournaments she has participated in.

Along with Kim, Wright (65-69-64-73) finished her week with a total of 19 birdies and six bogeys. Wright stayed close to the top of the leaderboard all week, and ended each round no lower than fifth. Wright matched her career-best performance in her six years on Tour; she has now finished in the top-five for two consecutive tournaments played (having finished fourth at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April).
 

10. Inkster is top mom on Mother's Day. LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Famer Juli Inkster celebrated Mother's Day with a tie for 11th on Sunday at the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill. She used a final-round 1-under-par 70 to move into the tie for 11th with three other players, at 6-under-par 278 (71-67-70-70).

Other moms who finished out the week included Hee-Won Han (T15), Carin Koch (T39), Stephanie Louden (T53) and Janice Moodie (T71).
 

11. Hanna-Williams concludes two-week stretch with top-15 performance. Five-year LPGA Tour member Allison Hanna-Williams finished in a five-way tie for 15th at the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill last week - her best finish since coming-in tied for seventh at the 2006 John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic. The Portland, Ore., native started her impressive run in San Antonio, Texas at the Duramed FUTURES Tour's Texas Hill Country Classic May 1-3.  Hanna-Williams birdied the final hole to win her first professional tournament there, but had little time to celebrate. She arrived in Williamsburg, Va., late on Sunday evening, May 3, just in time to participate in the Monday Qualifier for the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill Monday morning, May 4. She turned in a 3-under-par 68 to win the qualifier, before going on to finish at 5-under-par 279 (71-67-69-72) last week.

 
12. Oyama earns top rookie honors as she sets new career-best finish. First-year LPGA Tour player Shiho Oyama carded a sixth-place finish at the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill, which was the highest position on the leaderboard by a rookie, as well as a new career-best mark for Oyama. The player from Japan was one of just three who carded all rounds under-par, and earned the first top-10 finish of her rookie campaign. In the race for the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award, Oyama has now accumulated 82 points and is fifth on the list.

 
13. Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite opens gates to 2,000 youth, families. Thanks to a partnership between this week's Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite and Total Golf Adventures (TGA), 2,000 youth and their families from Bergen and Monmouth counties (New Jersey), and Rockland and Westchester counties (New York) will attend the LPGA event this week, hosted at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, N.J. Leading up to the event, TGA territory directors each distributed 500 tickets each, as well as selling additional daily grounds passes, which will benefit their underprivileged/at risk programs.

Established in fall 2003, TGA is a national junior golf enrichment program that has introduced golf to more than 45,000 students nationwide in 1700 schools throughout 23 states. TGA works to provide America's youth with access to the game of golf through programs that build life values, instill confidence through achievement and offer a fun and educational experience. They will have a booth at the Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite and can also be found online at www.totalgolfadventures.com.

 
14. ANNIKA Fragrance available. Less than one week after releasing her namesake ANNIKA Syrah wine, LPGA Tour veteran Annika Sorenstam has also announced the creation and availability of her ANNIKA fragrance. More information can be found at www.annikafragrance.com.
 

15. Lopez plays for women's health. LPGA Tour legend Nancy Lopez will participate in the 15th Deaconess Classic for Women's Health, today, at Evansville (Ind.) Country Club. The event has raised more than $1.5 million toward providing more than 8,000 mammograms and 200 pelvic ultrasounds to women in the region, as well as purchasing a stereotactic breast biopsy system and supporting breast cancer research. Lopez will conduct a clinic prior to lunch, then provide a few last-minute tips as she tees off the first tee with each group.

16. Posthumus wins first T&CP Central Section Championship. LPGA Teaching and Club Professional (T&CP) Terra Posthumus secured a spot in the 2010 LPGA Championship field, by winning the LPGA T&CP Central Section Championship last week. Posthumus carded a 68-65=133, which was eight strokes better than runner-up Patricia Beliard, of Houston, Texas (74-67=141). Posthumus' second-round 65 was also the best score of the tournament and helped secure the $2,000 first-place check. Six positions are secured, annually, in the LPGA major championship for winners of each of the five LPGA T&CP section championship winners and the national champion.

In the senior division, Loretta Young, of Mission, Texas, claimed the title with a two- day 72-74=146. The event was hosted at Stonecreek Golf Course in Phoenix, Ariz.