Oct 7, 2008 - 8:00 AM
0 shoutsBy John Nestor PA SportsTicker Golf Editor
Paula Creamer held off Lorena Ochoa, among others, to win the Samsung World Championship on Sunday.
In a year when Ochoa has dominated and Annika Sorenstam has announced her retirement effective at the end of the season, Creamer has been the one player that has stepped up and appears ready to give Ochoa a challenge.
The 22-year-old Creamer now has eight career victories, including four this season - the most for an American since Juli Inkster won five times in 1999.
The win was also Creamers first in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she grew up and began playing golf.
"This (win) means a lot," Creamer said. "That is big win for myself. I put so much pressure on myself every time I come here and to finally have one, it feels really good. I'm very excited."
Creamer rolled in three birdie putts on Sunday for a closing 3-under-par 69, but her most important putt was a nervy four-footer for par on the 72nd hole to avoid a playoff
"Honestly, I didn't see it go in," Creamer said. "All I heard was the people cheer for it, then it was like the longest two seconds of my life having it roll into the hole."
The win earned Creamer $250,000 and increase her season earnings to $1,742,733, moving her to second on the 2008 LPGA Official Money List. It also showed she can handle some added pressure - like playing in front of a hometown crowd that was hanging on her ever shot.
"It's hard coming to your hometown. People watch you all the time play. But it's a different feeling when you are at home," Creamer said. "You are constantly hearing, 'Go Pleasanton, Go Pleasanton.' I'm trying so hard, I want to win so badly especially for everybody.
"It's a different feeling, it really is. It's just that extra pressure sure that you put on yourself that normally at other events you still do, but it's a different kind, it's a different type of pressure."
TRIVIA QUESTION: How many events has the third-round leader/co-leader won on the PGA Tour this season?
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: Robert Karlsson has finally made it into the world's top 10 for the first time at the age of 39.
The Swede's playoff victory over Martin Kaymer and Ross Fisher at the Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews moved him from 18th to eighth in the new rankings.
Karlsson has won his last two starts on the European Tour, but feels he isn't even playing his best golf.
"It's not the best I played. The best I played was in May. I played better in May. But now all of a sudden things are sort of happening a bit easier it seems, because plays-wise I was hitting the ball better then," he said. "Probably around the U.S. Open was the best. But golf is so much more than actually hitting the golf ball. Especially around these courses, as well, it's so much of a strategy around these golf courses. You don't need to necessarily hit the best golf shots but you do need to use the areas where you have them and to hit the really good shots when you decide to take it on."
Tiger Woods is still way in front on the world ranking points list followed by Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia.
U.S. Ryder Cup standout Anthony Kim is sixth with Camilo Villegas, Karlsson, Ernie Els and Henrik Stenson rounding out the top 10.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Dustin Johnson after posting his first PGA Tour victory at the Turning Stone Championship.
"That's a big relief. Coming into the week I obviously was 128th on the Money List. I just wasn't really focused on this week, you know, kind of looked at the whole Fall Series as my chance to move up the ladder on the list. I was playing really well, so I wasn't like, you know, scared or nervous about not having my card. But it's definitely a big relief."
TRIVIA ANSWER: The third-round leader/co-leader has now won half (21) of the 42 stroke-play events on the 2008 PGA Tour schedule. The most recent was Camilo Villegas at the BMW Championship.
