Wie falls short of needed win as Hull captures Canadian Women's Open

8/18/2008

Australia's Katherine Hull won the Canadian Women's Open on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour title, taking advantage of Yani Tseng's final-round meltdown for a one-stroke victory at Ottawa Hunt.

Michelle Wie, using the last of her six LPGA Tour exemptions this year, tied for 12th at 3 under. She had rounds of 75, 70, 69 and 71.

The 18-year-old Stanford student had to finish first or second to guarantee a spot on the 2009 LPGA Tour. Having fallen short, she said she hasn't decided whether to go to Q-School in a bid to earn an LPGA Tour card.

The 26-year-old Hull, six strokes behind Tseng at the start of the round, shot a 3-under 69 to finish at 11-under 277. Se Ri Pak closed with a 72 to finish second, and Tseng's 77 left her two strokes behind at 9 under.

Tseng, the 19-year-old Taiwanese star who won the McDonald's LPGA Championship in early June and finished second two weeks ago in the Ricoh Women's British Open, opened with rounds of 70, 64 and 68 to take a 14-under total into the final round. On Sunday, she had a double bogey, five bogeys and just two birdies.

She declined to comment after the round.

Hull, the former Pepperdine star who second behind Meena Lee in the 2005 tournament at Glen Arbour in Nova Scotia for her best previous LPGA Tour finish, had four birdies and a bogey Sunday. She earned $337,500.

Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa, the 2007 winner at Royal Mayfair in Alberta, shot a 73 to tie for fourth with Sun Young Yoo (69) and Song-Hee Kim (70) at 7 under.

Annika Sorenstam, leaving the Tour at the end of the season, had weekend round of 76 and 74 to tie for 21st at 2 over.

Leaderboard – Final:

1.  Katherine Hull                 71 65 72 69 277 -11
2.  Se Ri Pak                       68 70 68 72 278 -10
3.  Yani Tseng                     70 64 68 77 279 - 9
4.  Sun Young Yoo                71 72 69 69 281 - 7
     Song-Hee Kim                 69 71 71 70 281 - 7
     Lorena Ochoa                  66 68 74 73 281 - 7
7.  Suzann Pettersen             69 75 70 68 282 - 6
8.  Hee-Won Han                  68 72 72 71 283 - 5
     Paula Creamer                 71 70 70 72 283 - 5
10. Meena Lee                      68 74 70 72 284 - 4
     Laura Diaz                       70 70 72 72 284 - 4

Source: AP, LPGA Tour