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No Monday Playoff
In the event our national champion isn't decided after 72 holes later today, there will not be an 18-hole Monday playoff as there has been in years past at the U.S. Women's Open. The USGA adopted a new playoff format this year, scrapping the 18-hole playoff for a three-hole aggregate total immediately following the end of regulation play. If the players are still tied after three holes, extra holes will be played until a deadlock is broken.
Entering this afternoon's final round at Pine Needles, Cristie Kerr (-4) leads Lorena Ochoa, Morgan Pressel and Jiyai Shin by one shot. Angela Park is two shots back.
Last year at Newport (R.I.) Country Club, an 18-hole playoff was needed to decide a winner, with Annika Sorenstam defeating Pat Hurst by four strokes for her third U.S. Open championship. There have been 10 Monday playoffs in the 61-year-old history of the U.S. Women's Open, the most memorable occurring in 1998 at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wisc., when two holes of sudden death were needed to decide a classic duel between LPGA rookie Se Ri Pak and amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn. On the 20th hole of the day, Pak drained a 15-footer for birdie to collect her second major championship. The 92-hole tournament was the longest in women's professional golf history.
The men's U.S. Open remains the only championship in golf that is still decided by an 18-hole playoff.
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