Caught In Karrie’s Webb, Chie Arimura Comes Up Short In The Final Round Of the LPGA HSBC Women’s Champions

Chie Arimura Finishes As Runner Up To Champion Karrie Webb

I imagine most of the stories revolving around the finish of the 2011 LPGA HSBC Women’s Champions tournament will lead with Karrie Webb winning her 37th career tournament, ending a two year drought and how she still has the game to compete with the young guns on tour. That’s understandable. Karrie deserves all of those accolades. I, instead, feel for Chie Arimura finishing 1 shot back after leading this event for three rounds. A missed birdie putt on on the 72nd and ultimately final hole denied a chance for Chie to force a playoff. As much as there will be a lot people much happier to see Webb win than a relatively unknown player from another tour, it was tough to see Chie lose like this. She had a chance to change her life. Karrie has already had a Hall of Fame career. Had Chie pulled out a victory, she would have earned LPGA status. With her stardom back in Japan and a plethora of tournaments on the JLPGA schedule, there is a good chance Chie would have passed on coming to the United States, at least initially. As the year went on, I think she would see the chance to play a year on the LPGA, and if she did well potentially many more, as a chance to rewrite her golf biography. She would have joined a handful of Japanese winners on the LPGA, including Ai Miyazato, Momoko Ueda, Akiko Fukushima, Hiromi Kobayashi, Michiko Okada and the greatest of them all, Ayako Okamoto. But alas, it was not to be, at least not at this tournament. Chie is still young, but she plays on a different tour, so who knows if she will have another chance this good. I certainly hopes she does.

Switching gears, Yani Tseng made a valiant attempt to come from behind and win this. She was 5-under for the day, but actually started her front 9 at 5-under before swapping 2 bogeys and 2 birdies on the back 9. At the turn, she was only one shot of the lead and charging. Here is video of her final round.

POS	START	CNTRY	PLAYER	TO PAR	THRU	TODAY	R1	R2	R3	R4	TOTAL
1	2		WEBB, Karrie	-13	F	-3	70	66	70	69	275
2	1		ARIMURA, Chie	-12	F	-1	68	66	71	71	276
3	T3		TSENG, Yani	-10	F	-5	70	72	69	67	278
4	T3		YOO, Sun Young	-8	F	-3	70	68	73	69	280
5	7		PRESSEL, Morgan	-7	F	-4	73	69	71	68	281
6	T3		CHOI, Na Yeon	-6	F	-1	69	71	71	71	282
7	6		KIM, I.K.	-4	F	E	72	73	67	72	284
8	T11		MATTHEW, Catriona	-3	F	-2	73	73	69	70	285
T9	T14		LEWIS, Stacy	-2	F	-2	72	72	72	70	286
T9	T8		KERR, Cristie	-2	F	E	74	67	73	72	286
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T11	T17		KIM, Song-Hee	-1	F	-2	79	68	70	70	287
T11	T17		YANG, Amy	-1	F	-2	73	72	72	70	287
T11	T14		SHIN, Jiyai	-1	F	-1	71	72	73	71	287
T14	T11		LINCICOME, Brittany	E	F	+1	75	69	71	73	288
T14	T8		MIYAZATO, Ai	E	F	+2	74	70	70	74	288
T16	T24		KIM, Christina	+1	F	-2	76	72	71	70	289
T16	T22		KUNG, Candie	+1	F	-1	74	70	74	71	289
T16	T17		PETTERSEN, Suzann	+1	F	E	73	74	70	72	289
T16	T14		LEE, Meena	+1	F	+1	71	72	73	73	289
T16	T8		MIYAZATO, Mika	+1	F	+3	72	72	70	75	289
T21	T35		HULL, Katherine	+2	F	-3	74	71	76	69	290
T21	T24		SEO, Hee Kyung	+2	F	-1	72	75	72	71	290
T21	T11		ICHER, Karine	+2	F	+3	77	69	69	75	290
T24	T35		HJORTH, Maria	+3	F	-2	75	74	72	70	291
T24	T31		MUNOZ, Azahara	+3	F	-1	76	73	71	71	291
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T24	T31		WRIGHT, Lindsey	+3	F	-1	72	73	75	71	291
T24	T22		CREAMER, Paula	+3	F	+1	76	70	72	73	291
T24	T17		GULBIS, Natalie	+3	F	+2	71	75	71	74	291
T24	T17		STUPPLES, Karen	+3	F	+2	70	70	77	74	291
T30	T31		HUNG, Amy	+4	F	E	73	73	74	72	292
T30	T24		FENG, Shanshan	+4	F	+1	71	77	71	73	292
T30	T24		HUR, M.J.	+4	F	+1	71	70	78	73	292
T30	T24		NORDQVIST, Anna	+4	F	+1	74	73	72	73	292
34	T24		JI, Eun-Hee	+5	F	+2	72	76	71	74	293
T35	T42		HURST, Vicky	+6	F	-1	72	72	79	71	294
T35	T35		RECARI, Beatriz	+6	F	+1	75	70	76	73	294
T37	T48		MCPHERSON, Kristy	+7	F	-2	76	74	75	70	295
T37	T42		PARK, Hee Young	+7	F	E	75	74	74	72	295
T37	41		KANG, Jimin	+7	F	+1	76	73	73	73	295
T40	T42		PARK, Inbee	+8	F	+1	74	72	77	73	296
T40	T42		WARD, Wendy	+8	F	+1	72	74	77	73	296
T40	T35		WIE, Michelle	+8	F	+3	73	71	77	75	296
T40	T35		STANFORD, Angela	+8	F	+3	73	73	75	75	296
T40	T31		HAN, Hee-Won	+8	F	+4	71	73	76	76	296
T45	T48		PRAMMANASUDH, Stacy	+9	F	E	76	71	78	72	297
T45	T24		KORDA, Jessica	+9	F	+6	73	75	71	78	297
47	T35		UEDA, Momoko	+10	F	+5	73	71	77	77	298
T48	T48		KANG, Haeji	+11	F	+2	74	77	74	74	299
T48	47		PAK, Se Ri	+11	F	+3	76	71	77	75	299
T50	59		SHARP, Alena	+12	F	-2	80	76	74	70	300
T50	T48		MIN, Na On	+12	F	+3	81	73	71	75	300
52	T56		HURST, Pat	+13	F	+1	76	76	76	73	301
53	55		LEE, Seon Hwa	+14	F	+3	74	73	80	75	302
T54	T52		BLUMENHERST, Amanda	+15	F	+5	75	75	76	77	303
T54	T52		NOCERA, Gwladys	+15	F	+5	73	77	76	77	303
T54	T42		GUSTAFSON, Sophie	+15	F	+8	74	76	73	80	303
T57	T56		BAE, Kyeong	+16	F	+4	77	76	75	76	304
T57	T52		LANG, Brittany	+16	F	+6	77	73	76	78	304
59	60		INKSTER, Juli	+20	F	+5	76	78	77	77	308
T60	61		AHN, Shi Hyun	+21	F	+5	74	77	81	77	309
T60	58		CASTRALE, Nicole	+21	F	+8	76	74	79	80	309
62	62		FRANCELLA, Meaghan	+25	F	+5	74	80	82	77	313
63	63		GOH, Christabel	+34	F	+8	82	79	81	80	322