Kerr's charge thrown off after going on clock
By Bill Kwon
Special to the Advertiser
KAHUKU — The timing was bad for Cristie Kerr, who finished tied for second with teen-age phenom Michelle Wie, as Jennifer Rosales won the inaugural SBS Open yesterday, officially starting the 2005 LPGA Tour season.
Chasing the wire-to-wire winner by three strokes going into the final round, Kerr got to within a shot of the lead after Rosales double-bogeyed the par-4 seventh hole.
Kerr
"Then we got timed (for slow play), which really threw me off," Kerr said. "We got timed for 9, 10, 11, 12. I proceeded to play, once we started on the clock, bogeyed four of the next six holes.
"In windy conditions, when you really have to think through your shots and what you're trying to do out there, it's not that easy," said Kerr, who finished with a 72 for 54-hole score of 210.
After a bogey at 10, a bad swing led to another bogey on the next hole.
She also bogeyed 13, before recovering with a birdie at 14 and another at 16 after bogeying the second par-3 on the back nine (No. 15).
"I played as well as I could under the circumstances," said Kerr, referring not only to being timed, but the gusty conditions.
"Boy, was it windy. Averaging 70 for three rounds in 40-mile-an-hour wind is pretty good."
Asked if she wanted any shots to take over, Kerr replied, "Yeah, the one on 10, the one on 11, the one on 15, and the one on 18 . . . But I hung in there and made some good birdies coming in."
Trailing Rosales by two shots going into the par-5 18th, Kerr said she didn't even think about trying to hit the green in two for an eagle attempt.
"It's downwind and you couldn't hold the green anyway. It didn't make sense. I hadn't hit driver there all week so I didn't know where the line would be off the tee," she said.
With the recent domination by international players on the LPGA Tour, the victory by Rosales of the Philippines gives the international set a jump start in 2005.
Why the foreign domination?
"Because we have a lot more foreign players on the tour than we've ever had. And they're all good," said Kerr, who had three wins last year. "It's just really a numbers game. We Americans just have to step it up a little bit."
With her performance in the SBS Open she hopes to improve on her breakthrough year in 2004.
Yesterday, it was just a matter of Rosales making fewer mistakes and not being as affected by the timing for slow play as it did Kerr, who thought overtaking Rosales seemed possible.
"Until we got timed," Kerr said.
Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.
