Paula Creamer flinched in pain as shot after shot punished a left thumb that hurts so badly she couldn’t play for four months. Somehow, the worse she felt, the better she played.

Creamer shed the title of being the best women’s golfer to not win a major, never wavering during a four-shot victory Sunday in the U.S. Women’s Open and putting away a field that couldn’t match her confidence or steadiness.

Creamer made it look easy after beginning the final round with a three-stroke lead that never dipped below two shots, finishing the tournament with a 3-under 281. Na Yeon Choi of South Korea shot a 5-under 66 to tie Suzann Pettersen of Norway for second place at 1-over 285.

It wasn’t easy. Not even close.

Limited to 40 practice shots before each round by a still-healing hyperextended left thumb that required surgery in February, the 23-year-old Creamer found the best possible way to limit the pounding on her hand: take as few strokes as possible.

Creamer, known as the Pink Panther for all-pink attire, ended with a 2-under 69, far better than the 75 she averaged during previous Women’s Open final rounds. She faded badly near the finish the last two years, and she missed the cut at last week’s Jamie Farr Classic won by Choi. But this time she was as strong as her thumb is weak.

It had to be; she punished that thumb by playing 52 holes during the final two days, 23 on Sunday, because of Friday’s rain suspension.

“I was in pain, but I was trying to do everything to not think about it,” Creamer said.

Lifting the silver trophy that goes to the winner? That was easy, too.

Source: AP News

Creamer, who is one-under par through 54 holes, made a four-foot birdie putt at No. 18 to give her momentum moving forward. She will tee off at 12:20 p.m, in the final group along with Amy Yang of South Korea and Wendy Ward, who also carded a one-under 70 in the third round.

Ward and Creamer are among seven Americans in the top 12. The others are Christina Kim, Alexis Thompson, Natalie Gulbis, Brittany Lang and Cristie Kerr. Kerr, ranked No. 1 in the world, made par on the last five holes of her third round on Sunday morning for a four-over 75.

It’s hard to overstate how huge the birdie putt at No. 18 was given that Creamer had missed putts from a similar distance on the previous two holes.

“It was a great birdie and a good finish,” said Creamer, who three putted from 20 feet on the par-3 16th and missed a five-footer for birdie on the par-4 17th after driving the green.

Source: The New York Times Golf Blog

In the end, it was a dinner plate that convinced her to have surgery on her aching thumb.

“I just watched it; it just fell out of my hand,” Creamer recalled. “It was the weirdest thing. I go, ‘OK, it’s time.’ ”

Now 10 1/2 weeks after doctors reattached a torn tendon, Creamer is ready to start her comeback at the ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway, N.J. Wednesday’s pro-am was just her second 18-hole round since withdrawing from the season opener in Thailand.

“Right now, every shot I hit hurts,” Creamer said. “You’re not going to see it on my face, but inside — I’m dying inside.”

The LPGA certainly could use Creamer’s presence on the leaderboard. Until Cristie Kerr’s rain-delayed victory on Monday, no U.S. player had found the winner’s circle this season. Creamer won four times in 2008 before struggling with her injury last season.

Source: Chicago Tribune

She will be joined by 99 of the top 100 golfers on the LPGA money list, and the one that isn’t participating is Lorena Ochoa, who just retired from the tour. That all the top golfers are scheduled to play pretty much confirms that the LPGA members have missed the ShopRite Classic, which returns to the tour after a three-year absence. It also helps that the ShopRite Classic is the last tournament before the LPGA Championship June 24-27.

Creamer has fond memories of ShopRite and Seaview. While still in high school at age 17, she participated as an amateur in 2004 and nearly won, coming in second, one stroke behind winner Cristie Kerr. The LPGA rookie of the year in 2005, Creamer has won seven tour events and is currently ranked 13th in the world.

Source: Atlantic City Weekly

Zimmers insisted that the course setup won’t change much from the 2007 men’s Open, a grueling test in which Angel Cabrera survived a final-round challenge from Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk to win by one stroke.

The oft-demanding greens are likely to be slightly slower but still wicked enough to demand respect. The women will play a course that’s more than 600 yards shorter, but the tees won’t be up far enough to take the troublesome bunkers and the harrowing Church Pews out of play.

“What we want to present is the toughest challenge in championship golf,” said Tim Flaherty, managing director for the U.S. Women’s Open. “It’ll be a stern but fair test. The players will have a tough time here.”

Zimmers said there remains work to be done but added that the Open setup is nearly complete.

As Zimmers continues to prep the 6,598-yard, par-71 course for the Open, a number of LPGA players – including Michelle Wie, Se Ri Pak, Morgan Pressel, Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis – have tentatively scheduled practice rounds to familiarize themselves with the unpredictable fairways and greens.

“At a course like Oakmont, the more you see it, the better,” Flaherty said. “If they show up here on Monday before the Open begins, they’ve got a steep learning curve.”

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Creamer, one of the LPGA’s top stars, is a two-time winner at the Crossings Course. The first time came at the former Labor Day weekend American Junior Golf Association tournament that was played at Magnolia Grove. Her other win at the course was in the former Mitchell Company LPGA Tournament of Champions, the LPGA event played here prior to the start of the Bell Micro.

Source: al.com

With eight victories before the age of 22, the goal seemed within reach.

Over the past two years, however, Creamer, 23, has learned something many in her profession normally don’t discover until their 30s or 40s: She is not invincible. The body breaks down.

First came the mysterious stomach ailment that plagued her for much of 2009. The doctors still don’t know what caused it, but, at least, it has gone away, although she will always be careful. Whenever she leaves the country, Creamer brings her own food.
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Then came the problem with her injured left thumb, which became so painful that she fell down and started to cry after hitting a shot on the 16th hole of her first tournament round this year in Thailand. She withdrew and hasn’t played a single round since. After making several attempts at rehab, Creamer finally underwent surgery, the last resort, on March 30.

The painful thumb was doing more than interfering with her golf game. It was interfering with her life.

A month later, the cast is off, but Creamer is a ways from returning to the LPGA Tour. She’s hoping for sometime in June, but it is far from certain. She doesn’t even know when she’ll be able to start hitting balls.

Source: Yahoo! Sports

Shin takes over the top spot from the retiring Lorena Ochoa. Shin is just the third woman to hold the No. 1 spot, joining Annika Sorenstam and Ochoa, who had been No. 1 for 158 weeks since overtaking Sorenstam in April 2007.

Na Yeon Choi and In Kyung Kim both moved up two notches to 10th and 11th respectively. Those moves dropped Angela Stanford and Paula Creamer down a pair to 12th and 13th.

The 22-year-old from Okinawa stepped to the par-4 18th tee one shot clear of the three players, and matched par to finish a round of 3-under 69 that moved her to 13-under 275 for the tournament.

Creamer came up one stroke short and shared second place with South Korean Jeong after matching the day’s low round with a 65 on the Ibaraki Golf Club West Course.

“Other contenders were playing very well, so that helped me concentrate on my each shot,” Moromizato said. “Now I feel like I can better deal with tough situations.”

Moromizato finished with Saturday’s best score of 5-under 67 for a 10-under 206 total to take a two-shot lead over overnight leader Akiko Fukushima. Moromizato started the third round three shots off the pace, before carding one eagle and four birdies against a lone bogey on the par-72, 6,553-yard Ibaraki Golf Club course in Tsukubamirai, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Jeon Mi Jeong also carded a 72 to move into third place at 7-under while Chie Arimura fired a 69 and moved up to a tie for fourth with Tamie Durdin of Australia (70) at 6-under par.

Creamer’s 72 lands her in a four-way tie for sixth place that includes Sakura Yokomine (71), Ye Li Ying of China (70) and Yukari Baba (70).

Here is a look at the leaderboard:

Shinobu Moromizato	-10
Akiko Fukushima		-8
Jeon Mi Jeong		-7
Chie Arimura		-6
Tamie Durdin		-6
Paula Creamer		-5
Sakura Yokomine		-5
Ye Li Ying		-5
Yukari Baba		-5