LPGA Tournament at Poway : Rizzo’s Rally Results in Two-Stroke Victory

POWAY —  Patti Rizzo came from two strokes behind to win the LPGA Tour’s Red Robin Kyocera Inamori tournament Sunday at StoneRidge.

Rizzo shot a two-under-par, final-round 69 to earn the $45,000 first prize, finishing with a 72-hole score of 277, seven-under par. The victory was the fourth for the eighth-year tour veteran from Miami, who also has won six tournaments in Japan.

Martha Nause finished second, two shots behind at 279, and Juli Inkster and Jane Crafter tied for third at 280.

Meanwhile, disaster overtook Nancy Brown, the third-round leader. She shot a 78 and finished seven strokes back at 284, in a tie for 17th place. A double bogey on the 10th hole culminated her collapse.

Rizzo, 28, said the key to her victory was a bit of advice from her caddie, Bill Busky of Riverside.

“I was on the eighth green, and he told me I was putting too much with my wrists,” Rizzo said. “He said to try to stroke it with my shoulders, and I knew then I had my old stroke back.

“Once I birdied 15, I got real excited. I knew then it was my tournament, and all I wanted to do was cruise in with pars.”

Rizzo’s victory increased her career earnings to $650,596, and moved her up two notches to 30th place on the all-time list. She has won $72,993 this season, good for 11th place.

Nause, 34, from Sheboygan, Wis., picked up $27,750 for finishing second and moved past the half-million mark in earnings at $513,209. She ranks sixth this year at $85,438.

“I had all kinds of chances,” Nause said. “Still, Patti won it; I didn’t lose it. On the 12th hole I started getting excited, and I began talking to my caddie (Tom Konopacky of Stevens Point, Wis.) about the Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Bucks. He said, ‘That’s too depressing,’ but it calmed me down.”

Brown’s difficulties began with bogeys on the first two holes. She clung to the lead, though, until she bogeyed the eighth and fell into a tie with Rizzo and Nause.

That was the last time Brown had even a share of the lead. When both Rizzo and Nause birdied No. 9 and she settled for a par, she was a stroke behind.

Then came the double bogey on No. 10, and when Rizzo birdied the hole, Brown suddenly was four shots behind. She never recovered.

“Obviously I’m disappointed,” Brown said, “This is the second time this year I’ve lost the lead in the last round. It’s time I played better on Sunday.”

Nause took a bogey on 10, so she skidded from a tie with Rizzo to two strokes back. Rizzo padded her lead to three with birdies on 14 and 15, and was in charge thereafter.

Laura Davies, who fell six shots behind with a nine on the sixth hole Saturday, made an early run that wiped out all but one stroke of the deficit. Three birdies in a row left her four-under par after eight holes.

Then the Briton missed a birdie chance on 10 and took a bogey on 11, and struggled home with a 70 and a total of 282, good for a tie for ninth.

“No. 10 was the end of my run,” Davies said. “I hit a great drive, but my second shot went into a bunker, and the hole didn’t hold my putt.

“Up until then, Tony (her brother and caddie) was saying, ‘If we can just get to six under, we should be all right.’ It looked like six under would do it. But when I missed that birdie on 10, I could feel my momentum going, and I never got it back.”