Karrie Webb Wins HSBC Womens

Karrie Webb wins HSBC

Karrie Webb demonstrated precisely the right mix of patience and pluck as she won the HSBC Women's Champions at Tanah Merah by a shot from Chie Arimura, the game little Japanese player who had led for so much of the tournament. On what was a thriller of an afternoon, Webb, who had been three behind leaving the 10th green, was home in 33 to add a 69 to earlier scores of 70, 66 and 70.

The 36-year-old Australian could not have been more right with her Saturday-night prediction that it would be "a battle right down to the end." Arimura, in spite of her relative inexperience of playing among the LPGA contingent, refused to go away and had a 25-footer at the last to force a play-off.

It may have been Webb's 51st title overall but she could not have looked more elated had it been her first which, for the record, was the 1995 British Women's Open championship.

"It feels great," she said. "It was a bit of an up-and-down day so I feel very happy to be slinking away with a one shot win.

"Chie," she said, "handled herself really well and was in with a chance to the end. I know she's won in Japan but today would have been a different feeling. She really toughed it out."

After nine holes of today's final round, it had looked for all the world as if Tseng was going to win for what would have been a fifth week in a row.

Having started the day six shots off the lead, the Taiwanese player had five birdies on the front nine to be out in a five-under 31. At that stage she was ten under par and only one shot to the bad.

Record crowds surged down the 10th to see how she would capitalise on that arresting start but, to their surprise, they did not have to wait long for the first glitch. After Arimura, armed with her hybrid, had hit through the wind to a couple of inches to the elevated 10th green, Tseng failed to carry the guardian bunker and, like Webb, wound up with a bogey.

What made things worse was that she reacted to her clubbing blunder by hitting through the green at each of the 11th and 12th.

She only dropped a shot over those two holes, but it would have felt like rather more as Webb birdied both to seize a share of the lead with Arimura.

By the time Webb had added two more birdies at 13 and 14, she was 13 under par and out in front. Not only that, but she had all the confidence in the world over her six-to-ten footers. "These putts don't get any easier as you get older," she explained afterwards, "but I work hard on my putting and I've reached the point where I'm pretty sure I can put a good stroke on the ball."

That little run should have spelt the end, only Webb herself proceeded to make things more exciting by taking three to get down from short of the 15th green to cut her advantage from two shots to one.

There were birdies all round at the short par-four 16th and pars at the 17th before Webb did what she had to do at 18 in leaving her 30-foot downhill putt stone dead.

Tseng finished in third place on her own, with Webb marvelling at the way she had played on the outward half. "I obviously couldn't see what I was like at the time I had that kind of confidence but I remember the feeling... You don't think you can do anything wrong."

Asked to pin-point what if any shot had made the difference to her day, Webb opted for the four-iron she had hit to 12 feet at the 11th. "I had been frustrated at being three behind after my bogey at the 10th but, by the time I holed my 12-footer, I was only one-shot off the lead and on my way."

Karen Stupples of England carded an eagle on the par five 9th to make the turn in one under and added a birdie on the 16th. However consecutive dropped shots on holes 9 and 10 followed by two more on 14 and 15 gave the Florida State graduate a final tally of 74 and a share of 24th place.

HSBC Women's Championships Results

Karrie Webb Makes Move at HSBC

Karrie Webb at HSBC Women's

Chie Arimura of Japan will start the final round of the HSBC Women's Champions at Tanah Merah in Singapore with nothing more than a one-shot advantage over the vastly more experienced Karrie Webb of Australia.

Though the Japanese Tour player had the chance to move a resounding five shots clear of Webb at the 15th and 16th, she missed a two-and-a-half footer at each. "It is part of golf," came her rueful end-of-day comment. "Winning doesn't happen easily."

The five-foot three inch competitor was still three ahead of Webb with two to play but, with her confidence dented, she had a three-putt green at the 17th before failing to match a magnificent Webb birdie at the last. Her round was a 71 as against Webb's 70.

When it came to Arimura's miscued putts, Webb would have seen it all before - a slightly nervous newcomer to the LPGA's upper levels suddenly being affected by the mounting pressure. Webb carried on playing her own game and no-one was remotely surprised when she made up so much ground at the end.

Yet not too many will be prepared to give up on Arimura who, with her beautifully-rounded swing, for long hit one glorious shot down the flag after another. Just as Tiger Woods's red shirts connote power and excitement, so Arimura's pale mint outfit suggested an icy calm which in fact never wavered until the alarm bells sounded on the last few greens.

"I enjoyed my round," said the 23-year-old. "The atmosphere was tense but I still had fun."

Apart from the fact that she was playing with a winner of seven majors, Arimura said that competing among the LPGA players asked a very different set of questions to playing among the Japanese professionals. "In Japan," she explained, "we have to play fast. And if we don't play fast, we get fined." Fast, for the record, is four-and-a-half hours for a three-ball whereas American officialdom allows at least another quarter of an hour.

Webb, who already has 50 titles under her belt, acknowledged that she had been fortunate to be so well placed at the end of the day. "When Chie missed a couple of putts I must admit I was a bit surprised," she said. "She really could have separated herself from all of us. I knew that I just had to keep plugging away and stay patient."

Yet she thinks that Arimura's handful of wins in Japan - five in 2009 alone - should stand her in good stead. "She knows how to win, how to get the job done. If she plays like she did today, it's going to be a battle right down to the end."

On Sunday the top trio will consist of Webb, Arimura and Yani Tseng, with the latter having climbed to five under par and six shots off the lead over her last ten holes.

Tseng had more or less played herself out of the picture when she was no better placed than one under after eight today. As it was, she made four birdies coming home and, in her heart of hearts, still believes that she might extend her winning run from four tournaments to five.

"I will be trying my best," warned the current World No.

Karen Stupples of England suffered more than most on the back nine on Saturday. 

Having made the turn in level par Stupples started the tenth with a double bogey then adding four bogeys - with just the one birdie at the 16th - to end the day on 77 and tumbling out of the fourth place held on Friday night.

HSBC Women's Championships leaderboard

Chie Arimura Retains HSBC Singapore Lead

Chie Arimura

Chie Arimura had cut down on the frills, the lace and the stripes but there was still plenty of the fancy stuff as she notched six birdies and an eagle in the course of the 66 which kept her in the lead at the HSBC Women's Champions at Tanah Merah. 

The Japanese tour player is a cumulative ten under par at the half-way stage and two ahead of Karrie Webb, similarly the owner of a second-round 66.

Meanwhile, Yani Tseng, the winner of each of the last four tournaments, took a bit of a dip with a trouble-strewn 72. Though she was trying to keep things fun, the Taiwanese player struggled a bit in that department as she had a run, from the ninth, of 6,5,4 against the par of 5,4, 3.

"I was especially disappointed with No. 9 she admitted. "That was an easy birdie for everybody and I went and hit it in the water.

"But I've still got two days to go and I will do my best." In other words, she is not about to give up on making it five titles in a row.

The 24-year-old Arimura, who had switched to a plainer outfit after attention had been drawn to her 'exotic' first-day attire, is not just a tidy golfer. She is as brave as they come. When it came to the 18th, where her sister competitors were mostly playing well away from the gaping water hazard, she went straight for the flag. True, she could have done with half a club more but she ended up with an easy two-putt four for her inward 33.

Arimura's bogey, birdie, bogey start reflected the fact that she was once again a little jumpy early on - something which is hardly surprising in that this is her first tournament of the year. However, those mishaps behind her, this winner of eight Japanese titles settled with an eagle at the fifth before pocketing five further birdies.

Expanding on her start, Arimura said her body had not been feeling quite right. "I told myself to calm down , to go a little more slowly and to focus," she said. "That seemed to do the trick."

The wily Webb is a tough player for her to have on her heels. The 36-year-old Australian has 50 titles and five majors under her belt.

Webb's 66 was altogether different from Arimura's. This experienced soul steered clear of the bogeys and made an eagle and four birdies. "I feel great about it," she said afterwards. "I putted really well and there were no bad swings."

Asked if she found competing tougher or less tough than applied at the start of her career, Webb said cheerfully that the ignorance of youth had played no small part in her early success. "I wouldn't have said so at the time but, looking back, I definitely think that was the case."

Today, she feels she has benefited from all her golfing experiences, good and bad. "Everything helps..."

On a day when Michelle Wie and Suzann Pettersen had the cameramen hot in pursuit as the two took to the course in identical outfits and matching plaits, everyone was left feeling for Na Yeon Choi.

Had she signed off with a par, she would have bedded down on the same six-under mark as Sun Young Yoo. As it was, she tangled with the rocks around the last hole and closed with a double-bogey. 

Karen Stupples equalled the opening day on Friday to share fourth place on four under  and dropping just one shot - on the par four 4th hole - picking up birdies on the 3rd, 9th and 13th holes.

HSBC Women's Champions Leader board

Wie and Pettersen Matching Pair

Michelle Wie and Suzann Pettersen

Had it been the annual garden party at Buckingham Palace, the women concerned would have been mortified. Not only had they turned up in precisely the same outfits but their hair-dos were identical - a single, perfectly woven plait.

This was the second round of the HSBC Women's Champions at Tanah Merah rather than a party, but the fact that Michelle Wie and Suzann Pettersen were identically clad and playing in the same group was quite a talking point. Their hats and shirts were white, their skirts a neat blue check.

Almost the only thing to separate the two Nike competitors was the colour of their plaits - Michelle's dark and Pettersen's blonde. That and the pink flower Michelle wears in the side of her cap.

"They realised what was happening at breakfast," said BJ Wie, Michelle's father. "Michelle offered to change but eventually they decided it would be fun to stay the same."

Pettersen likened it to being back at school, only she had adhered to the regulation length of skirt whereas Wie had flouted the rules by wearing hers a little shorter.

"It's great," said a lady behind the ropes. "They both look terrific."

In terms of their games, Wie and Pettersen play much the same brand of long-hitting golf but this was not a day when they were churning out matching pars. Though both had handed in first-round 73s, Wie was forging ahead of the Norwegian. Having turned in a one-over-par 36, the American made a birdie at the 12th and another down the endless 15th to move to one under.

Pettersen, who had been suffering with swollen glands at the start of the week, was out in 38 and dropped two further shots before getting back to three over as she matched Wie's birdie at 15. She then pinned down a three at the driveable par-four 16th.

Meanwhile Chie Arimura, the Japanese Tour player who signed off on Thursday night at four under par and with a one-shot lead over Na Yeon Choi, was going from strength to strength.

As she teed up at the tenth, the five foot three inch Arimura was three under par for the day and seven under for the tournament. At that, she was one ahead of Karrie Webb and two clear of of Choi and Sun Young Yoo. Yani Tseng, the Taiwanese golfer who is out to make this week her fifth victory in a row, was lying on two under.

Arimura's efforts are all the more remarkable in that this is her first tournament of the year and she came to Tanah Merah feeling more than a little nervous. "The good thing," she explained, "was that I prepared well and worked hard on my putting."

Tseng, in contrast, is playing in what is her fifth tournament of the season having won each of the previous four. Her first triumph was in Taiwan, the next two in Australia and the fourth at last week's Honda LPGA Thailand.

Today's, though, was not one of her more inspired rounds. Though she started at two under par and was four under by the time she teed up at the fifth, she was back to where she started after running up a bogey at each of the ninth and tenth.