Comeback - Brittany Lincicome Wins the Kraft Nabisco Championship

Before the LPGA season began, I wrote the following -

Comeback of the Year - Brittany Lincicome. If she is healthy, I see her returning to her 2007 form.

I always liked Brittany. I never thought her comeback would be marked by a major championship win. It was, she won the Kraft Nabisco Championship today by one shot over Cristie Kerr and Kristy McPherson. With a brilliant approach shot, she eagled the 18th hole from inside five feet to become the first American major champion winner on the LPGA Tour since Cristie Kerr won the 2007 US Open. Are the Asians still ruining taking over the tour now?

Brittany got to take the jump in the lake at 18. Her caddy and father did it also.

I’m very happy for Brittany. Her and McPherson’s high finish, plus Pat Hurst’s strong finish today (T8) and win two weeks ago opens up the Solheim Cup tremendously. Players like Stacy Prammanasudh, Laura Diaz, and Natalie Gulbis are going to have to pick up their play to maintain their spots on the 2009 team.

Today’s finish was exciting. Now we LPGA fans have to wait almost three weeks till the next tournament.

Some other comments:

• Till her 2nd shot on 18, I didn’t think Lincicome had much of a chance. She had just missed a great birdie opportunity on 18.
•  Today’s Kraft finish saw that the worst position to be on the LPGA going into final round play, is being on top of the leaderboard. Kristy McPherson is just the most recent golfer not able to close it on Sunday. She played well but Lincicome made the shot of the tournament and that was the difference.
• Cristie Kerr looked to be the one to beat till she hit her drive on 15 out of bounds. She also looked like she may make eagle on 18, when her approach rolled very close to the cup before settling about 15 feet away. She made the birdie putt to tie McPherson for 2nd.
• A CBS announcer(Verne Lundquist I think) when talking about Christina Kim suggested she should change some of her behavior on the course. For heavensake why? Do all players have to be colorless or conformist?

Hound Dog also blogged on Lincicome’s victory. So did The Constructivist.