Shin beats Creamer on ninth playoff hole, wins Kingsmill Championship

Williamsburg, VA, United States (4E Sports) – Jiyai Shin of South Korea buried a par putt in the ninth playoff hole to edge Paula Creamer and capture the Kingsmill Championship trophy Monday at Kingsmill Resort.

Shin and Creamer finished regulation Sunday with identical 16-under cards, forcing a sudden-death playoff. They were even after eight playoff holes before play was suspended because of darkness.

In the continuation, Creamer missed a five-foot par putt while Shin calmly sank a 12-inch par putt to win her ninth LPGA event but her first since ruling the 2010 Mizuno Classic. The South Korean pocketed $195,000 to move past the $5 million prize-money mark for her career.

“This is the first time I’ve done an interview on Monday,” Shin said. “It was really tough to win. Last night took so long and I was really tired. And when I came this morning, I was still tired.

“I had a hand operation in June, and after that for two months I didn’t play. So I told myself it would take a really long time to get a win. But I’m really happy it came so quick,” she added.

The nine-hole playoff was the longest in LPGA history involving two players. In 1972, three players went to a 10-hole playoff in the Corpus Christi Open. It was the second LPGA event at Kingsmill to go to playoff since 2007, when Suzann Pettersen edged Jee Young Lee after three playoff holes.

Creamer almost won the title in the first playoff hole but missed a birdie putt from 30 feet.

“I thought I hit a great putt, the first one,” Creamer said. “But (the green) was so much faster than the practice putting green. Colin (Cann), my caddie, and I were talking that maybe it was because the practice green was in the shade and this was more exposed to the sun. My speed has been pretty good all week, but that one went about five and a half feet by.”

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