Webb with the Patricia Bridges Bowl

(Kingston Heath Golf Club, Melbourne, Australia – Sunday 3rd February 2008) – Australia’s Karrie Webb retained the MFS Women’s Australian Open at Kingston Heath Golf Club on Sunday with a birdie at the second hole of a sudden death play-off.

Webb defeated Ji-Yai Shin from South Korea after both players finished tied on eight-under-par 284 in regulation.

Webb rolled in a twelve foot birdie putt at the par-four 18th hole to take her fourth national title. She previously won the event in 2000, 2002 and 2007.

Both Shin and Webb carded six-under-par 67s in the final round of the championship, scores which tied for the lowest of the week.
Webb admitted that she hadn’t expected to have to shoot 67 to win the tournament, but she came from two strokes behind Shin with three holes to play to tie for the lead.

She birdied the 16th and 17th holes, before giving herself a chance to take the championship with a 12 foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole.
The ball rolled past the left lip of the cup, denying Webb the victory in regulation, but it did help her to read the line of the putt when it came to the second hole in the play-off.

“The first time I played the 18th in regulation I hit it (the putt) actually where I thought and it broke so much more,” Webb explained. “On the second play-off hole I couldn’t see the break so I just had to trust it.”

Runner up Ji-Yai Shin

When Webb saw that Shin, playing in the penultimate group, was leading by two shots, Webb admitted that she had to step up.

“When I got to the 15th green I hadn’t seen a leader board for quite a while so it was quite surprising to see that I was two shots behind and I had to put myself in another gear,” said the 33-year-old winner of 45 tournaments around the world, including seven major championships.

“I knew Shin wasn’t going to make any mistakes coming in and I needed to birdie at least two of the last three holes, which I managed to do. I guess the old girl still has plenty of petrol in the tank.”

Webb, who in 2005 was the youngest player to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, recorded seven birdies and one bogey in her final round, as did the runner-up, 19-year-old Shin.
Webb and Shin began the day at two-under-par, a stroke behind the overnight leader Australian Lindsey Wright.

Shin shared the lead with Webb after nine holes, but fired four birdies in six holes from the 10th on the back nine to reach eight-under-par.

The Korean World No.7 thought that she might have secured the championship when she returned to the scorer’s hut, but watched on the television as Webb mounted a fight back.

Melissa Reid, who finished third

“Because I was two ahead I thought I might have won but because there was a lot of golf left, I wasn’t sure,” Shin said through an interpreter, adding that she would have increased confidence for next week’s ANZ Ladies Masters in Queensland.

English rookie Melissa Reid finished in outright third position on four-under-par 288 after a final round of three-under-par 70, which was a superb effort in her first tournament of the year.

The Derbyshire 20-year-old remained in contention throughout the final round, carding three birdies, two bogeys and an eagle, at the par-five eighth hole.

She held a one stroke lead momentarily after her birdie at the ninth hole, but could not continue the momentum on the back nine.

“I played okay,” said Reid, who takes the early lead on the LET’s 2008 New Star Money List. “I made a mistake on two. It was a bit of a mental error really. I wasn’t quite sure of the club and then a stupid bogey on ten was a missed club. I had so many putts that lipped and could have gone in today. I’m quite happy but I’m here to win. I’m not here to finish third.”

South Korean teenager Amy Yang, the 2006 ANZ Ladies Masters champion, finished in fourth place on two under par after a final round of 70, with five players on one-under-par in a share of fifth place.

They included Australians Lindsey Wright, the overnight leader who carded a 75, the leading amateur and second round leader Kristie Smith, who had a 73, as well as the 2007 S4C Wales Ladies championship winner Joanne Mills, who had a superb 68. Also on one-under-par were Japan’s Yuki Sakurai and South Korean Na Yeon Choi, who both had 69s.