Pak Wins Jamie Farr Event for Fourth Time

Se Ri Pak made some history Sunday at the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic.

Pak became only the eighth player to win the same LPGA tournament four or more times, shooting an even-par 71 at Sylvania, Ohio, to finish at 13-under 271 and hold off Hee-Won Han and Marisa Baena by two shots.

It wasn’t a vintage performance. Pak double-bogeyed the 16th hole to fall back into a tie with Han before taking command by chipping to 4 feet for a birdie on the par-5 17th. She was able to salvage par on the final hole to close out the win, worth $150,000.

As a rookie in 1998, Pak shot a 61 in the Jamie Farr to set an LPGA scoring record that has been exceeded only by Annika Sorenstam’s 59 in 2001.

In addition to the 1998 Jamie Farr, Pak also won the tournament in 1999 and 2001 to give her the title in four of the last six years.

The average finish was perhaps understandable, since Pak’s day started at 7:24 a.m. EDT when she reported to the 14th green to complete the third round, which had been suspended because of lightning and heavy rain. Pak played those five holes in one over par after playing the first 13 in eight under.

The victory was Pak’s fifth in Ohio, where she has placed in the top 10 in 12 of 17 starts and has won almost $1 million.

Pak moved past Grace Park and into second place behind Sorenstam on the money list this year with more than $1.1 million.

Sorenstam, who won the Farr in 2000, skipped the tournament after playing last week in Sweden.

Baena’s second-place finish was the best of her five full years on tour. Heather Bowie’s 66 moved her into a tie with Mi Hyun Kim (68) for fourth place at 10-under 274.

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Jim Thorpe rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to overtake Bob Gilder and win the Long Island Classic at East Meadow, N.Y.

The victory, worth $225,000, ended a 42-tournament drought for Thorpe, who now has six wins in his fifth year on the Champions Tour. He shot a three-under-par 67 in the final round to finish with a 54-hole total of 15-under 195.

Gilder finished with a bogey-free 66 for a 196 to finish second. He missed a chance to force a playoff by missing a 6-foot birdie attempt on the final hole, and settled for a tap-in par.

Gilder’s second shot on the par-4, 455-yard 18th carried 201 yards to set up his birdie attempt, but the ball rolled inches past the cup.

Thorpe, who started the day with a two-stroke lead over Gilder after tying a Champions Tour record by shooting a 60 Saturday, double-bogeyed the par-4 fourth hole. That allowed Gilder to move in front, where he remained through the 16th.

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Jane Park, 16, of Beaumont will play in the PING Junior Solheim Cup at Malmo, Sweden, Sept. 8-10. The event matches the 12 best junior girls from the U.S. against the top 12 junior girls from Europe.