Ward sets records to win Wendy's Championship

Wendy Ward withstood challenges from Moira Dunn and Annika Sorenstam and set LPGA scoring records for a 54–hole tournament here to win the Wendy's Championship for Children by three shots yesterday.

Ward's 54–hole hole total of 21–under 195 was a tour record for a 54–hole tournament, both in relation to par and scoring total. The Wendy's Championship is normally a 72–hole event, but was shortened to three rounds to give players extra time to return from last week's British Open.

The victory, worth dlrs 150,000, was Ward's third as a pro and ended a three–year drought. She closed with a 4–under–par 68.

The 28–year–old Texan began the final round with a four–shot lead over Dunn after a course record and a career best 10–under 62 in the second round at New Albany Country Club.

She missed a 2.1–meter (7–foot) birdie putt on the first hole, then bogeyed the second when she failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker. It was her only bogey of the week.

Meanwhile, Dunn – seeking her first win in seven years on tour – rolled in a 4.5–meter (15–foot) putt for birdie on the first hole.

As they went to the third tee, Ward's lead had already been cut to two.

In the group in front of them, Sorenstam was applying pressure with a string of three birdies at the fifth, sixth and seventh holes.

She nearly holed her tee shot on the par–3 fifth, the ball coming to rest just 60 centimeter (2 feet) from the cup. Then she two putted from 10.5 meters (35 feet) for birdie at the par–5 sixth. At the seventh hole, she rolled in a 6–meter (20–foot) putt.

That spurt pulled Sorenstam into a tie with Dunn, two shots behind Ward, who regrouped with her own two–putt birdie at the sixth.

Ward, however, began to put some distance between herself and the pack with a 1.8–meter (6–foot) birdie at the ninth hole. She followed that with another 1.8–meter (6–foot) birdie at the 11th hole to get to 19 under, expanding the lead to three shots.

Rather than wilt down the stretch, Ward got stronger. She posted birdies at No. 15 and 16 after hitting her approach shots within 1.2 and 1.8 meters (4 and 6 feet), respectively.

Sorenstam's threat all but ended when she three–putted at 13 – missing a 60–centimeter (2–foot) putt for par. As she walked off the green, she fired the ball into a nearby creek.

Ward never left the door open. For the tournament, she hit 90 percent of greens in regulation, averaged 248 meters (272 yards) off the tee and had 22 birdies.

Sorenstam shot rounds of 67, 65 and 66, and Dunn closed with her second 67 to go with a 64.

The previous 54–hole record of 19 under was set by Pat Bradley at the 1991 Rail Charity Classic and matched by Annika Sorenstam last year at the Firstar LPGA Classic. Sorenstam established the lowest score for a 54–hole event with a 196 at the 1998 ShopRite.

Ward's last win came in the 1998 Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open.

Rosie Jones closed with a 66 to finish at 201, while another former Ohio State University golfer, Meg Mallon, shot a 67 to finish at 202.

As was the case the previous two rounds, the field stockpiled birdies. The scoring average for the third round was 69.973. Sixty of the 73 players shot par or better in the final round.