Williamsburg, VA — South Korea’s Jiyai Shin edged out American golfer Paula Creamer to seize the LPGA Kingsmill Championship trophy Monday at Kingsmill Resort. Shin and Creamer finished regulation Sunday with identical 16-under cards, forcing a sudden-death playoff. They were even after eight playoff holes before play was suspended because of darkness. In the continuation the following day, Creamer missed a five-foot par putt while Shin calmly sank a 12-inch par putt to win her ninth LPGA event but her first since ruling the 2010 Mizuno Classic. The South Korean pocketed $195,000 to move past the $5 million prize-money mark for her career.
“This is the first time I’ve done an interview on Monday,” Jiyai Shin told the press pool. “It was really tough to win. Last night took so long and I was really tired. And when I came this morning, I was still tired. “I had a hand operation in June, and after that for two months I didn’t play. So I told myself it would take a really long time to get a win. But I’m really happy it came so quick,” she added. Jiyai Shin’s victory moves her up the Rolex Rankings to No. 10.
The nine-hole playoff was the longest in LPGA history involving two players. In 1972, three players went to a 10-hole playoff in the Corpus Christi Open. It was the second LPGA event at Kingsmill to go to playoff since 2007, when Suzann Pettersen edged Jee Young Lee after three playoff holes.
Paula Creamer handled the upset in a sporting fashion. “I’ll probably think about this for a little bit,” she said, “but not too long. It’s hard — the thing about golf and sports is, you’ve got to have that great short-term memory.” “I’m going to learn so much from this,” she added. Paula Creamer’s defeat places her on the Rolex Rankings at No. 14.