Choi loses big lead, rallies to win title

SAN DIEGO -- Na Yeon Choi of South Korea lost her seven-stroke lead, then rallied to shoot 1-under 71 yesterday to win the Samsung World Championship, her first LPGA Tour victory.

Choi finished at 16-under 272 and held off runner-up Ai Miyazato of Japan, who shot a 69, the low round of the day at Torrey Pines.

Choi began the final round with a two-stroke lead, got birdies on two of her first four holes and made a 10-foot eagle putt on the sixth hole to extend her lead to seven strokes.

It then appeared Choi, who has won four times on the Korean LPGA Tour, would cruise to her first LPGA Tour victory.

But Miyazato, playing in the group in front of Choi and Jiyai Shin of South Korea, made two quick birdies on Nos. 7 and 8 to cut Choi's lead to five.

Choi missed a 2-foot putt on the ninth hole for a bogey, cutting the lead to four heading into the back nine.

She continued to struggle with two consecutive bogeys, and Miyazato tied Choi at 16-under with a 4-foot birdie putt on No. 16. Miyazato took the lead shortly after when Choi three-putted for bogey on No. 14.

Then it was Miyazato's turn to make a mistake. With 203 yards remaining for her second shot, Miyazato's 5-wood approach hit the bank in front of the 18th green and rolled into the water. She dropped in front of the pond but could not get up and down for par.

Choi's second shot on the 18th reached the front left of the green and her third shot came to rest 5 feet below the pin. Choi, who had missed several putts of equal or less distance, converted the birdie for the victory.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

Haas wins by two

CONOVER, N.C. -- Jay Haas overcame a slow start to shoot a 7-under 65, winning his second Greater Hickory Classic by two shots over Russ Cochran and Andy Bean.

Haas, who also won the Champions Tour event in 2005, set a tournament-record of 18-under 198 at Rock Barn Golf and Spa's Robert Trent Jones course. His three-day total broke the mark set by R.W. Eaks in 2007 by one shot.

It also made the 13-time winner on the 50-and-over tour the second repeat winner in the tournament's seven-year history. Eaks won titles in 2007 and '08.

Cochran and Bean also shot 65 yesterday; Hal Sutton (65) and second-round co-leader Nick Price (68) tied for fourth at 15 under.