Twenty-six holes weren’t enough to determine a champion Sunday at the Kingsmill Championship.
Jiyai Shin required only one hole Monday morning.
Ending the longest two-woman playoff in tour history, Shin made par on the ninth extra hole Monday – the first of the morning – to defeat Paula Creamer and win for the first time on the LPGA since 2010.
Creamer had a one-shot lead as she headed to the 18th hole in regulation Sunday, but she three-putted the final green – including a 5-foot miss for par – to drop into a playoff.
That’s when things got interesting.
Creamer and Shin played the par-4 18th hole eight times, but neither player was able to make a birdie with the back hole location.
It appeared they would continue with playoff hole No. 9 late Sunday, but the players deemed it too dark to continue. So the sudden-death playoff resumed Monday at 9 a.m. ET, but strangely on a different hole: the 405-yard, par-4 16th.
Both players hit the fairway, but Creamer’s approach shot left her about 35 feet for birdie. She ran the putt about 6 feet past, and then lipped out on the comebacker, too. Shin had about 15 feet for birdie, and she knocked in the short par putt to send the fans home early.
There was little time to celebrate, however.
The Ricoh Women’s British Open – the LPGA’s final major of the year – is set to begin Thursday at Royal Liverpool in England.
