Mallon wins with final hole birdie

Meg Mallon stood over the decisive putt and had to steady herself.

Then the U.S. Women's Open champion rolled the 10-foot birdie putt into the middle of the cup on the final hole to touch off a wild celebration, beating Karen Stupples and defending champion Se Ri Pak by a shot Sunday at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.

"I was set over that putt and I was thinking, 'I've won the U.S. Open. I don't get nervous.' But I'll tell you what, I was nervous," Mallon said after closing with a 3-under 68 for a 7-under 277. "My hands were shaking, I was breathing hard. But that's exactly what you play for. For all that was going on, it's all about controlling your nerves."

Mallon's third victory of the year, worth $165,000, was the 18th of her career -- including 13 coming from behind in the final round. She was three strokes down heading into the last day of the U.S. Women's Open at Orchards Golf Club last month, and shot a closing 65 to win by two shots. A week later, she went wire-to-wire to win the Canadian Open.

Stupples and Pak narrowly missed birdie putts at the 18th that would have forced a playoff.

Stupples, coming off a win at the Women's British Open, had a 2-over 73, and Pak, trying to become the second LPGA player to win an event five times, closed with a 68.

"I really have no complaints," Stupples said. "If somebody had told me I'd tie for second at the start of the week I'd have jumped all over it. I gave it a good try today but it just wasn't in me.

"Give more credit to Meg. She played superb, brought it to me and won the tournament."

Rachel Teske had a 68 and finished fourth at 279, and Lori Kane closed with a 70 for a 280 total.

Mallon began the final round four shots behind Stupples, and briefly pulled within a stroke when Stupples hooked her tee shot on the par-3 sixth hole and made bogey moments after Mallon birdied the same hole.

But Stupples birdied the next hole and maintained a three-shot lead through 11. At the par-4 12th, she again hooked her drive into the trees and made bogey. On the next hole, she missed a 5-footer for par as Pak pulled even with a 15-foot birdie putt at No. 16.

"That was ridiculous," Stupples said of her three-putt bogey. "I had a 35-foot first putt that was downhill, left to right and I hit it too hard. It was just stupid of me to hit the first putt so far past."

Mallon then made it a three-way tie for the top spot, chipping in for birdie (her second chip-in of the round) at No. 15 and then making a 20-foot birdie putt at the 16th.

Pak barely missed a 10-footer at No. 17 for sole possession of the lead, then an 18-footer for birdie curled off on the par-5 closing hole.

"It was a right-to-left putt and it went left," she said.

The drama shifted to Mallon, who was playing in the next-to-last group. Her wedge shot from 100 yards barely cleared a greenside bunker and rolled past the pin.

As she approached the ball, a tournament official announced her as "a proud Buckeye from The Ohio State University" and she was greeted by a standing ovation from the large gallery.

She said the announcement didn't put any additional pressure on her.

"Because you hear it so many times, I really enjoy it," Mallon said. "It's fun. Why not? It's a game. I can't tell you how many times I heard "Go Bucks!" today."

As the putt went into the cup, she pumped her fist and flashed a broad smile.

"I saw the line," she said. "As soon as it came off my putter face it was right on line."

Stupples saw it all from the fairway. Her approach shot flew directly over the flag and skidded to a stop 14 feet away, but her birdie putt slid just past the cup.

"It just needed a little more pace -- or a little more break," she said.

Pak, who won the Farr in 1998-99, 2001 and 2003, was trying to match Mickey Wright run of winning an event five times. She won the Sea Island Open in 1957-58, 1960-61 and 1963.

She said going 2 over in the second and third rounds cost her.

"That was the big difference," she said. "That put a lot of pressure on me on Sunday, starting five shots back."

The 41-year-old Mallon said she has savored her recent successes this season.

"At this stage of my career, I can't tell you how much I enjoy this," she said. "I know how fleeting it is."

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