LPGA Championship ends with Tseng's playoff win

In her rookie year on the LPGA Tour, playing in only her third major championship Sunday, 19-year-old Yani Tseng felt lucky to become the youngest winner of the LPGA Championship.

After the day she had at Bulle Rock in Havre De Grace, Md., that was hardly the case.

First, she went 18 holes with Lorena Ochoa and closed with a 4-under 68 in searing heat, denying the No. 1 player in women's golf a chance to win a third straight major. Then came a sudden-death playoff with Maria Hjorth that lasted four holes.

Tseng finished it off by choking down on a 6-iron out of the first cut of rough and hitting the perfect shot, the ball stopping 5 feet behind the hole for a birdie that made her the first rookie to win an LPGA major in 10 years.

"I can't believe I just won a major," Tseng said. "Everything is coming so fast."

It felt like slow motion for Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam, both desperate for their own brand of history.

Ochoa, who only two days ago appeared to be sailing toward a third straight major, went 14 holes without a birdie. The drought ended on the 16th hole when a 20-yard pitch for eagle banged off the pin, and a birdie on the final hole only made it look close. She closed with a 71 and wound up one shot behind.

"It wasn't my time," Ochoa said, showing more emotion than she had all week. "I am not ashamed. I'm proud of my finish. Now I move on and try to win the next few tournaments."

Sorenstam, trying to join Mickey Wright as the only four-time winner of the McDonald's LPGA Championship, also closed with a 71 and could count more than a dozen putts on the weekend that she could have made. She twice missed inside 5 feet on par 5s in the final round, and she had a 15-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the 18th to get into the playoff.

It was weak and well short.

PGA Tour

Justin Leonard won the Stanford St. Jude Championship in a playoff, holing a 19-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to beat Masters champion Trevor Immelman and Robert Allenby.

Leonard blew a one-stroke lead with two holes left to drop into the playoff, but won on the 150-yard, par-3 11th when Immelman pushed his birdie attempt past the hole.

It's Leonard's 12th PGA Tour title, his second at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., and his first since the 2007 Valero Texas Open. He closed with a 4-under 68 to match Allenby (65) and Immelman (69) at 4-under 276.

Leonard earned $1.08 million and now is fifth in the Ryder Cup standings. He has not played in the Ryder Cup since 1999, when his 45-foot putt on the 17th hole at Brookline clinched the largest comeback in history.

Leonard was the closest to a birdie on the first hole of the playoff on the par-4 18th only to come up a foot short. All three parred, sending the playoff to the island green at No. 11.

Allenby, who came in undefeated worldwide in 10 playoffs, went first from 21 feet and missed a foot to the right. Leonard stroked in his putt next, the ball slowing near the cup to show off the Nike logo before falling in.

Immelman, who birdied the last three holes of regulation to join the playoff, had the shortest putt at 11 feet to push the playoff to a third hole. But he just missed, giving the title to Leonard.