Joh, Thompson Low Amateurs at Kraft


April 5, 2009

Rebounding from a disappointing third-round 77, reigning U.S. Girls' Junior champion Alexis Thompson, 14, of Coral Springs, Fla., carded a 3-under-par 69 in Sunday's final round to share low-amateur honors with Tiffany Joh at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first women's professional major of the season.

Thompson recorded twice the number of birdies (six) in the final round than she had in the previous 54 holes on the difficult 6,673-yard Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., to post a 72-hole total of 2-over 290.

Joh, last year's U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links champion and a member of the victorious 2008 USA Curtis Cup team, also had a solid final round with a 71. The UCLA senior from San Diego made 17 pars and one birdie (par-3 17th hole). Joh, who also won the WAPL in 2006 and was competing in her second Kraft,  and Thompson tied for 21st with 2008 Women's British Open champion Jiyai Shin and Song-Hee Kim.

It was Thompson's third appearance in a women's major. In 2007 at the age of 12 years, 4 months, she became the youngest qualifier in U.S. Women's Open history, but missed the 36-hole cut at Pine Needles in Southern Pines, N.C. Last year, she again qualified for the Women's Open at Interlachen C.C. in Edina, Minn., but again missed the cut.

Winning the Girls' Junior - she beat Karen Chung in the final at Hartford Golf Club last July - and two women's amateur events in January (South Atlantic Ladies Amateur and Doherty) helped land her one of five amateur invitations to the Kraft. Her goal coming into the week was to make the cut and "go low," something she finally did on Sunday after rounds of 72-72-77.

Spain's Azahara Munoz, the 2008 U.S. Women's Amateur runner-up and the reigning NCAA Division I women's champion, was the other amateur to make the cut. She finished in a tie for 40th at 7-over 295 with a final-round 73. Both Jennifer Johnson of La Quinta, Calif., and Auburn junior Candace Schepperle of Birmingham, Ala., missed the cut.

American Brittany Lincicome won her first major title in dramatic fashion by holing a 4-foot eagle putt at the 72nd hole to beat fellow Americans Kristy McPherson and 2007 U.S. Women's Open champion Cristie Kerr by one shot. Lincicome, the first U.S.-born player to win a women's major since Kerr's triumph at Pine Needles, finished at 9-under 279.

"It's obviously exciting to be there and I'm disappointed it didn't turn out in my favor, but I'll take away some great memories and experience from the tournament," said Kerr.

Added Lincicome: "I don't even know how to describe the feeling I felt. At one point - that I could get sick at any moment because I was shaking and so nervous,  or I was going to pass out because I was trying to breathe really heavy or slow my breath down but take really long breaths.

"To have Kristy McPherson there, I tried - I think it really helped me, and her, probably, to relax and to hit some good shots. Not that I didn't want Cristie Kerr to win, but Kristy McPherson is my best friend. I was looking at her like, 'One of the two of us has to win. We need to kick in gear and get it going.' Cristie Kerr is a great girl and love her to death, but McPherson is my really close friend. It was cool to see one of us win it."

Compiled by USGA Digital Media staff writer David Shefter.