Kerr's Early Dominance May Have Been Her Undoing

This year's US Women's Open began the weekend featuring three American players - two of them prominent stars on the LPGA Tour in Cristie Kerr and Paula Creamer.  The Saturday round proved to be the undoing of Creamer's chances as a 79 squandered any real shot of claiming the title.  Kerr, though, was resolute and inspired by the opportunity to capture her second US Women's Open in three years.  Playing the third round almost impeccably, Kerr was basically coronated as champion before she began the final round on Sunday.

Kerr let the pressure get to her on Sunday, though.  She came out and bogeyed the par 5 first hole to reduce her lead immeidately.  She struck back with a birdie at the third hole, but that was the only red mark on her card for the entire final round.  As Dave Shedloski notes on USWomensOpen.com, the decisive blow against Kerr was self-inflicted.  A three putt bogey on the 16th cost her the championship - or at least a chance as good as when she began the round.

The curious thing about Kerr's performance, though, was that her 18 hole score each round got worse throughout the championship.  It was a fact that seemed to go largely unnoticed to the commentators and writers that had handed her the championship before Sunday play. 

Winning a championship from the front of the pack is tough enough.  To do it as a frontrunner for almost all of the championship is even more difficult.  It is no coincidence that Tiger Woods has rarely won a major championship going wire-to-wire.  The meltdowns of many players over the years in trying to capture a major title in wire-to-wire fashion indicates how difficult of a task it is. 

Perhaps conventional wisdom would be that a player would feel more comfortable with the lead with every passing hole that they have it.  That does not seem to hold true, though.  The notion of "hanging on" is a tough one to come to grips with in any sport.  But in golf, where there is no teammate to bail a player out, the lead spot on the scoreboard can be an island.

Dottie Pepper aluded to this in defining the difference between Kerr's 2007 US Women's Open win at Pine Needles and this year at Saucon Valley.  Kerr assumed the 54 hole lead, but only after the third round was completed on Sunday morning.  There was no overnight rest to consider the possibilities - good and bad - of the day to come.  The rush to finish may well have helped Kerr, who has shown a propensity to collapse under major championship pressure on three occasions in the last two years.

Kerr is known as a mentally-resilient player and she prides herself on her ability to not make mental errors.  She never made the big number or the big mistake this week.  In fact, her three-putt bogey at 16 on Sunday was her first of the week.  Rather, her undoing may well have been trying so hard to focus on the mental aspect that her mechanics suffered.  Kerr grew wayward off of the tee throughout the round.  Her usually dependable iron swings seemed to get out of whack as she got closer to the clubhouse.

Kerr seemed like a golfer who was playing to "hang on," instead of a golfer looking to surge past the entire field.  That may well have created the opening that allowed a handful of other players into contention on Sunday, and for Eun Hee Ji to ultimately overtake her.