Creamer rocks headlines with U.S. Women's Open win

Overcoming Thumb Injury, Creamer Lifts the Weight of Disappointments
By Karen Crouse, The New York Times

OAKMONT, Pa. -- As she waited for her turn to putt on the last hole of the United States Women's Open, Paula Creamer stood off to the side of the green and made a few practice strokes. Her caddie, Colin Cann, stuck out his arm, almost as if he were palming a basketball, to remind her to keep her head still.

Creamer's ball was 4 feet from the pin Sunday, and she could take four putts and still win her first -- and favorite -- major. And yet she did not release any of the giddiness that was bubbling just below the surface, behaving as if it were just another par to grind out.

"No matter how-many-stroke lead you have, you just want to finish it in style," Cann said afterward

Creamer Gets to Revel in Victory
By Karen Crouse, The New York Times

After reaching new heights with a victory in the United States Women's Open, Paula Creamer plans to go skydiving.

"I said when I won my first major we were going to do it," Creamer said on Sunday after finishing four strokes ahead of Na Yeon Choi and Suzann Pettersen.

Somewhere in her coach's office, she added, is her bucket list: Win major. Go skydiving.

"I think it was going to be my dad, my manager and I think my coach," Creamer said, beaming. She added, "Ooh, that's exciting." 

Creamer wins U.S. Women's Open for first major
By Larry Fine, Reuters

OAKMONT, Pennsylvania - American Paula Creamer won her first major on Sunday by taking the U.S. Women's Open at Oakmont Country Club after pulling away from her rivals for a four-stroke triumph.

The victory fulfilled the great expectations placed on the 23-year-old Creamer, who had won eight times on the LPGA Tour but had been frustrated by near-misses in the big events.

Creamer, wearing her signature pink outfit for the final round, shot a two-under-par 69 for a three-under-par 281 total and was the only player in the field to better par.

Thumbs up: USA's Paula Creamer wins Women's Open
By Jerry Potter, USA TODAY

OAKMONT, Pa. -- Paula Creamer covered her face and cried after winning the U.S. Women's Open on Sunday.

Creamer shed the title of being the best women's golfer to not win a major, never wavering during a four-shot victory Sunday in the U.S. Women's Open and putting away a field that couldn't match her confidence or steadiness.

She should have given a thumbs-up sign because the victory, earned at historic Oakmont County Club, was improbable after she had surgery on her left thumb on March 30.

Paula Creamer Wins U.S. Women's Open; Stricker Retains John Deere Title
By Erik Matuszewski, Bloomberg News

Paula Creamer won the U.S. Women's Open by four strokes for her ninth victory on the LPGA Tour and first major tournament title.

Creamer, 23, finished at 3-under-par at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, the only golfer in the field to break par over four rounds. She shot a 2-under 69 during the final day after rounds of 72, 70 and 70. South Korea's Na Yeon Choi and Norway's Suzann Pettersen tied for second at 1-over.

Creamer receives $585,000 and is the second American in the past six years to win the title, following Cristie Kerr's victory in 2007. Creamer was making her fourth start since having thumb surgery and played with a bandaged hand.

"My hand has been in a lot of pain," Creamer said in a televised interview. "I just stuck to my game plan on every hole. I really just tried to do what we planned and I executed and it makes it so much sweeter."

Paula Creamer collects first major at US Open
BBC Sports

American Paula Creamer won the women's US Open golf championship by four strokes at Oakmont Country Club to claim her first major title.

Creamer, only 23 but considered the best player not to win a major, started the final round leading by three shots and nobody came within a shot of her.

She played 23 holes on Sunday with a sore thumb, including five holes of the weather-delayed third round.

Her final-round 69 gave her a three-under 281 for the tournament.

For Paula Creamer, enduring the pain pays off at U.S. Women's Open
By Leonard Shapiro, Washington Post

OAKMONT, PA. -- Paula Creamer came to the Pittsburgh suburbs earlier in the week not knowing how her surgically repaired thumb would react to the rigors of a brutish golf course and the mind-numbing pressure of a U.S. Women's Open.

After four grueling days at onerous Oakmont, including high heat, rain delays, near six-hour rounds and maddeningly quick greens, Creamer found out she had all the right stuff to survive and thrive, prevailing by four shots Sunday to win the first major championship of her career with the only below par score of the week, a 3-under-par 281 and a final-round 69.

With a throbbing thumb that made any shot off turf or sand an exercise in pain management, Creamer fended off any and all challenges with a magical back nine ball-striking performance, even if she more than occasionally had to wince in pain coming from her heavily taped left thumb.

Bandages and all, Creamer a major champion
By Gerard Gallagher, The Sports Network

Paula Creamer squeezed one final par out of prickly Oakmont and threw her hands over her face. The left hand was bandaged thumb-to-wrist, something else to absorb the tears.

She cried, yes, but this time the source of her waterworks was victory, not defeat. This time the sight of her on-course sighs was endearing, not frustrating.

This is the Paula Creamer we've been waiting for all along. And boy did she arrive at the right time.

Creamer broke through for her first major championship Sunday, winning the biggest one of them all, the U.S. Women's Open, with a steely two-under 69 in the final round.

Just four months after surgery to repair ligament damage in her left thumb -- four months after she wondered if she would ever play golf at a high level again -- Creamer was the only player to finish under par on a course that was built 107 years ago to confound the game's best.

(CNN) -- Paula Creamer defied the odds to win her first major trophy at the 65th U.S. Women's Open on Sunday after recovering from a career-threatening thumb injury.

The 23-year-old American thought she would never play golf again after aggravating her injured left thumb while playing in the season-ending LPGA Championship in Houston last year.

The win at Oakmont Country Club is even more impressive given that Creamer had surgery as recently as March and had to play through the pain in her thumb during the final day, when she played 23 holes due to earlier rain delays. 

2010 U.S. Women's Open: Creamer wins her first major title at Oakmont
Second player to finish with 3 consecutive sub-par rounds at club
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On a magical Sunday afternoon in which she dramatically leaped from marketable commodity to major champion, Paula Creamer did something at Oakmont Country Club that Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller and Ernie Els never managed to do.

With safe-cracker precision and unflagging determination, Creamer won the 65th U.S. Women's Open by four shots with a final-round 69 that put the finishing touch on a four-day performance that was as gritty as it was impressive.

When it was all over, she stood in the brilliant sunlight on the 18th green, her hands over her mouth in joyous disbelief, a major champion for the first time in a career that had produced eight LPGA Tour titles and countless more endorsements.

Along the way, Creamer fashioned her winning score of 3-under 281 by finishing with three consecutive sub-par rounds, something no other major champion had done at Oakmont except John Mahaffey in the 1978 PGA Championship. Not Hogan, Nicklaus or any of its other great champions. 

OAKMONT, Pa. -- Four months ago, when she was crying on her father's shoulder wondering if she'd be able to play golf again, Paula Creamer kept thinking about the US Women's Open. Weeks later, a cast on her left hand following thumb surgery, the focus never left, even if pain and the past might try to conspire against her once more, keeping golf's biggest prize out of her reach.

Not this time. Coming up with an experienced plan to navigate one of the world's toughest golf courses in Oakmont Country Club -- and forced to devise another plan for that throbbing thumb -- Creamer capped her biggest week by convincingly winning the 65th US Women's Open yesterday. A final-round, 2-under-par 69 -- her lowest score of the tournament and third time she bettered par -- gave the 23-year-old Californian a 3-under 281 total and a four-stroke victory over Norway's Suzann Pettersen (69) and South Korea's Na Yeon Choi (66), and, more importantly, her first major championship.

From the ribbon in her hair to the laces in her shoes, her Sunday color was hard to miss. Pink, at least for now in women's golf, is the new red, white, and blue.