Golf roundup: Rookie wins LPGA championship

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — Yani Tseng of Taiwan became the first rookie in 10 years to win a major, beating Maria Hjorth on the fourth hole of a playoff Sunday with a 5-foot birdie on the 18th hole to win the LPGA Championship.

Tseng, a 19-year-old with a decorated amateur career, closed with a 4-under 68 and became the second-youngest woman to win a major. Not since Se Ri Pak in the 1998 McDonald's LPGA Championship had a player won a major as a rookie.

"I feel so lucky," Tseng said.

Hjorth appeared to have fate on her side when her fairway metal bounced off the rocks in a creek, over a ledge and across the green, turning a bogey into a birdie on the 15th hole. She closed with a 71, and missed a 12-foot birdie before Tseng holed the winning putt.

Lorena Ochoa went 14 holes without a birdie, ending her hopes of a third straight major. She birdied two of the last three holes for a 71 and finished one shot out of the playoff, along with Annika Sorenstam.

Sorenstam had a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole to get into the playoff, but she left it short and shot 71.

The disappointed Sorenstam was trying to join Mickey Wright as the only four-time winners of the McDonald's LPGA Championship. She gave herself so many chances, and the final putt summed up her week.

Tseng and Hjorth finished at 12-under 276.

Laura Diaz (70) was one birdie away from the lead throughout the back nine until a three-putt bogey on the 17th. She finished fifth.

PGA TOUR: At Memphis, Tenn., Justin Leonard won the Stanford St. Jude Championship in a playoff, holing a 19-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to beat Masters champion Trevor Immelman and Robert Allenby. Leonard blew a one-stroke lead with two holes left to drop into the playoff but won on the 150-yard, par-3 11th when Immelman pushed his birdie attempt past the hole. It's Leonard's 12th PGA Tour title, his second at TPC Southwind and his first since the 2007 Valero Texas Open. He closed with a 4-under 68 to match Allenby (65) and Immelman (69) at 4-under 276. Former BYU golfer Dean Wilson was in contention late, but double bogeyed Nos. 16 and 17 and finished in a tie for 13th.

Leonard earned $1.08 million and now is fifth in the Ryder Cup standings. He has not played in the Ryder Cup since 1999, when his 45-foot putt on the 17th hole at Brookline clinched the largest comeback in history.