At the beginning of the final round of the LPGA Championship, I would have bet the ranch that either Lorena Ochoa or Annika Sorenstam would wind up winning. And I would have bet the ranch that Jee Young Lee and Maria Hjorth would not. One out of two.

Yani Tseng is the player I overlooked earlier today, not because I don't believe in her - I've been singing her praises since the early days  of Waggle Room - but because Sorenstam and Ochoa were right there.

Annika gave it a good run, but just couldn't make any putts on Sunday. Lorena fell off the pace on the back nine - she just seemed a little out of sorts - before coming on a little at the end and winding up in a tie for third with Sorenstam.

Here's what the final leaderboard looked like:

Yani Tseng, 73-70-65-68--276
Maria Hjorth, 68-72-65-71--276
Lorena Ochoa, 69-65-72-71--277
Annika Sorenstam, 70-68-68-71--277
Laura Diaz, 71-68-69-70--278
Full results

Laura Diaz was as Laura Diaz has always been - good, just not good enough. Jee Young Lee, the third-round leader, collapsed with a 78, finishing tied for 18th. Lee has fantastic skills, and I think she has some good wins in her. But I also think those good wins are still a few years away.

Maria Hjorth had a few shaky holes near the beginning and middle of the back nine. But she kept reeling it back in. And Tseng was long-and-wrong with the driver a few times, but showed no signs of nerves. She was unflappable. Did you see any flaps? I saw no flapping. At no point did she appear flapped. (OK, I beat that one to death. Now I'm flapped.)

And while Maria Hjorth had several putts to win, on the final hole of regulation and in the playoff, but missed them, when Tseng had a putt to win, on the fourth playoff hole, she sank it.

If you're not a close watcher of the LPGA you might think this was a fluke win. Don't think that. It's not. Yani Tseng has a big future ahead of her, and she was close to winning several times previously this year, with a pair of runners-up. And she entered the LPGA Championship sixth on the money list.

... and Open Thread ...

PGA Tour
Justin Leonard earned PGA Tour career win No. 12 with a birdie putt on the second playoff hole at the Stanford St. Jude Classic. Leonard vanquished Robert Allenby and Trevor Immelman in the playoff after the trio finished regulation at 4-under 276.

Story | Scores

European Tour
A Singh was a winner at the Bank Austria Golf Open. Not Vijay, but Jeev Milka. JMV recorded 18 straight pars, and that was good enough to beat Simon Wakefield by a stroke in the tournament shortened to 54 holes by bad weather.

Story | Scores

Nationwide Tour
Scott Gutschewski stormed home with a 66 to come from behind and win the Rex Hospital Open. Gutschewski, whose total was 270, wound up winning by two over Chad Ginn and Esteban Toledo.

Story | Scores

LPGA Tour
At age 19, Yani Tseng is a major championship winner. Tseng defeated Maria Hjorth on the fourth playoff hole to win the McDonald's LPGA Championship after both players finished at 276. Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa shared third place.

Story | Scores

Ladies European Tour
Gwladys Nocera, who has been the best full-time LET player for the past several years, claimed another victory on Sunday at the ABN AMRO Ladies Open in The Netherlands. It is her second win of the season and seventh in just more than two years. Nocera finished at 13-under 203, one stroke ahead of rookie Melissa Reid.

Story | Scores

Today was moving day at the LPGA Championship. Yes, I know that the phrase "moving day" refers to the third round of a tournament. But I'm not talking about what was happening on the course. I'm talking about what was happening off it.

And that is this: The LPGA Tour announced today it is taking over the LPGA Championship. Funny thing, the LPGA has never owned its title event. Imagine the PGA of America not owning the PGA Championship. That's the situation that has existed in women's golf. Businessman and philanthropist Herb Lotman has owned the LPGA Championship - the tournament and the right to run it and the right to place it where he wants - for more than a decade.

But the LPGA will take over ownership and management of its signature tournament beginning in 2010.

This is long overdue, and kudos to Commissioner Carolyn Bivens for making this happen.

McDonald's has added a lot to this tournament over the years and deserves thanks for its support. In fact, the tournament has enountered financial problems in the past, and the LPGA Tour may never before have been in a position to make a move like this. But it is now.

And now it can go about turning the LPGA Championship into an event of much greater stature, and event that truly feels like a major championship. By dropping the title sponsor, to start with. The tour's announcement included the news that beginning in 2010, there will be no more title sponsor. (A "presenting sponsor" - as in, "LPGA Championship presented by Waggle Room" - may still be sought.)

The next step: Placing the LPGA Championship on the best courses in the country. No offense to Bulle Rock, but let's face it: That course is only about the 23rd best Pete Dye course. It's not a best-in-show golf course.

The LPGA Championship needs to visit the great courses around the country, and the newer buzzworthy courses, too. That will lend more of a major feeling to the proceedings, also. The LPGA didn't address this possibility in today's announcement, except to say that the location of the 2010 tournament is not yet determined.

This is a major move by the LPGA, and I love it.

The golfer in the photo above is Sherri Turner. Her caddie, helping her out of the ravine during the McDonald's LPGA Championship, is Ellie Gibson.

Ellie Gibson. That name takes me back a few years, although it's a name I've never forgotten and never will. Because, well ... "How'd Ellie do?"

Ellie Gibson was once an LPGA Tour player. Her rookie season was 1990. And at that time, I was working at a newspaper in the city where Gibson's grandmother, Anna Wosnig, also lived (and golfed - Anna was a regular in the ladies playdays at the local munis).

"How'd Ellie do?" Those were the words that Anna called and asked me after every round of every LPGA event in which Ellie Gibson played, from 1990 through approximately 1997, during which year I left that newspaper.

Anna and I didn't know each other, and Ellie and I didn't know each other. When Gibson first reached the tour, my job at the newspaper was "agate clerk," meaning I was the guy who put together all the small-type statistics in the Sports section.

And it also meant I was the guy who answered the phone, when I was available to do so. And so Anna would dial the Sports line, I would answer, and she'd ask me to look up the LPGA scores to find out how her granddaughter did that day.

When she first started calling, Anna would explain who she was and why she was calling. But over time, that became unnecessary.

I'd answer the phone, Anna would recognize me, and she'd simply say, "How'd Ellie do?" I'd find the LPGA scores for the day and fill her in. I might just give her the score and we'd hang up. Or we might chat for a minute or so about the score - I'd break it down for her, front nine, back nine, how far off the lead Ellie was, who was leading. Anna might offer an "oh, wonderful" for a good round, or an "oh, no" for a poor round.

And so it went. For around seven years. After the first round: "How'd Ellie do?" After the second round: "How'd Ellie do?" After the third round: "How'd Ellie do?" And if there was a fourth round, yep, "How'd Ellie do?"

Ellie did well enough to remain on tour for eight full seasons, and parts of two others, after her rookie year in 1990. Although never good enough to finish higher than 68th on the money list. The highlight of her career was a fourth-place finish at the du Maurier - then a major - in 1992. She last appeared as a player on the LPGA Tour in 2000.

And now, like a handful of former tour players, she caddies.

And so when I saw the photo above, my first thought was, "How'd Ellie do?"

That phrase is burned into my brain. It may well be my final thought as I take my last breath. And as I go towards the light, it wouldn't surprise me to find Anna Wosnig there, waiting, with an urgent question: "How'd Ellie do?"

So, Ellie, nice to see you again. Your grandmother and I enjoyed tracking your scores all those years ago. (Ahem ... except for the rounds in the 80s.)

You know how athletes in other sports sometimes (for good money) yell "I'm going to Disney World!" (or it Disneyland?) right after winning a huge event? I think the winner of the McDonald's LPGA Championship should look into the camera and yell, "I'm having a Happy Meal!" Or maybe, "Supersize me!"

And instead of having, say, beer dumped over her head, the winner is greeted by a slew of 19-year-old assistant managers on the final green, and they dump sackloads of quarter-pounders on her.

And just for fun, the Hamburglar should be at Bulle Rock, hiding behind trees, behind rocks, behind people, and several times per round he should leap out, make a mad dash across the fairway or green, and steal somebody's ball. Outside influence. The Hamburglar is covered in the rules.

But I digress.

It wasn't easy selecting the players to include as choices in the poll. There are a couple obvious people to include - Ochoa and Sorenstam, natch. Paula Creamer deserves to be there, even though I don't consider her a strong candidate, by virtue of her No. 3 world ranking and two wins this year.

I decided the defending champion, Suzann Pettersen, deserves a spot. And Seon Hwa Lee, coming off a win.

And I gave the lost spot to Karrie Webb because she finished second last week, and because she finished second here last year even though she wasn't playing very well at the time. I included her, in other words, because she's my pick.

There are many more who could have been included, of course. Jeong Jang has looked good all year. Youngsters like Yani Tseng and Jane Park are playing great - and who's to say this won't be the week of their first LPGA win for one of them? Players like Morgan Pressel and Cristie Kerr won't be surprises if they get into the mix. My favorite, my sentimental choice, Se Ri Pak is a 3-time winner here and finally had a good tournament last week. And there are probably another six to 10 players one could argue deserve a spot in the poll.

So I'll be interested to see how the votes break down between Ochoa, Sorenstam and "other."