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Creamer: First major triumph

Paula Creamer finally broke her major duck as she claimed the 65th US Women\'s Open by four strokes at Oakmont. Creamer battled through testing conditions in Illinois and severe pair in her injured thumb to end up as the only woman under par for the tournament.The 23-year-old American shot a final-round, two-under-par 69 - her third under-par round in a row - to win at three under par from Suzann Pettersen and Na Yeon Choi.

Creamer had to finish her rain-delayed third round early on Sunday, and after finishing those six holes to she returned to complete a round of 70, still three ahead of Wendy Ward and four in front of Norway\'s Pettersen, American Christina Kim and Amy Yang of South Korea. When the final round eventually got under way, Ward blew her chances with a triple-bogey seven at the first, going on to card a 77 to finish at eight over in a tie for 14th.

However, Creamer opened steadily - her only bogey on the front nine came at the fourth and she cancelled it out with birdies at the fifth and ninth holes. Her back nine followed a similar pattern and Creamer went to the last four in front of Pettersen - who had shot a 69 - and Korean Choi, who carded a five-under 66, tied for second at one over.

The \'Pink Panther\', as Creamer is known for sporting the colour on the golf course, has gone close before in the majors, and was delighted she could enjoy her walk up the 18th fairway before claiming a ninth professional title and crucially her first women\'s major.

\"It\'s just incredible, it really is,\" Creamer said. \"It\'s been amazing.
\"I\'ve always thought of my career as being a pretty solid player, but that question always lurked: \'How come you never won a major?\'

\"And now we have, and we never get to get asked that question again. That\'s kind of a big relief off of my shoulders, but I knew that the time would come, I just had to be patient.\"

Not only was she the only woman in the tournament to finish under par, but Creamer also triumphed having missed three months of the season following surgery on her left thumb - and the problem was clearly bothering her throughout the event.

\"These last couple of months were the most crucial months I think I\'ve ever had to go through,\" she added.

\"They were just maturing, learning how to handle adversity, learning how to, I guess, become more of an adult in a sense, and you have to really count your blessings every day.

\"I had my surgery and there was a time before my surgery where I thought \'oh my gosh, I may never play golf again or, if the surgery goes wrong\' but it was what I had to do, and here we are with a US Open championship.\"

South Korea\'s IK Kim was fourth at two over after a 68 and her compatriot Yang tied for fifth after a 71, finishing alongside first-round leader Brittany Lang (69) of the US and another Korean, Jiyai Shin (68).

Fifteen-year-old Alexis Thompson tied for 10th place at six over with Japan\'s Sakura Yokomine and Taipei\'s Yani Tseng - who won the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April, the first major of the year.

World number one Kerr finished tied for 17th at nine over while Scotland\'s Mhairi McKay was the leading Briton, a closing 73 leaving her at 14 over in a tie for 34th. Source – Skysports.com

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