WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Paula Creamer will use a pink ball Sunday, her custom for the final round. Odds are, she'll play those 18 holes with a different color in mind: green.
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Creamer will have a chance to be the first American to win the LPGA Tour's season money crown in 15 years Sunday, when she's one of eight remaining competitors at the ADT Championship at Trump International. All will start tied at par when they embark on an 18-hole shootout for the $1 million winner's prize.
"Money title or not, I want to win this event," Creamer said.
Earlier this week, she wasn't even sure she'd play this event.
She began experiencing sharp stomach pains Wednesday night and she was admitted to Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach, Fla. Saturday night, after enduring abdominal pain for three days and exhibiting signs of appendicitis.
She was kept overnight for testing and evaluation, but arrived at Trump International on Sunday about an hour and 15 minutes before her 9:40 a.m. tee time.
"I'll play," Creamer said quietly as she tied her shoes in the parking lot, wearing her customary Sunday pink outfit. "Feeling a little better."
If Creamer wins the season-ending event that'll probably be best remembered as Annika Sorenstam's presumed finale on the LPGA Tour, not only will she nudge Lorena Ochoa by $41,457 for the title, she'll become the first U.S.-born money champion since Betsy King in 1993.
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| Paula Creamer is one of eight golfers left at the ADT Championship. (Getty Images) |
Creamer said she would see doctors Saturday night, but promised to be on the tee Sunday morning.
"If I was going to withdraw, it would have been earlier," Creamer said.
Suzann Pettersen put together the best round Saturday with a 4-under 68, shaking off a triple-bogey at the par-4 fourth with almost flawless golf the rest of the way. Pettersen got back to even by the seventh, then ensured her spot in Sunday's field with four straight birdies on holes 13-16.
Considering she made two birdies in the first two rounds combined, an eight-birdie Saturday surely did oodles for her confidence.
"I still think the best golf for me this week is ahead of me," said Pettersen, who has three second-place finishes in 2008 but no wins, after claiming five titles a year ago.
Angela Stanford shot 69, one shot back of Pettersen, to earn her spot in Sunday's dash for the cash, which was displayed in a clear plastic box, with 10,000 bills - all $100s - neatly bundled. Creamer and Seon Hwa Lee shot 70, and Ji-Yai Shin and Jeong Jang were another shot back.
A three-way playoff decided the final two spots: Karrie Webb and Eun-Hee Jee advanced when Sun Young Yoo three-putted the par-3 17th.
Webb and Creamer are the only players to reach all three final rounds of the ADT since it adopted the eight-player, erase-the-previous-scores Sunday format in 2006. Neither has finished better than third.
If course knowledge counts for anything, it'll help Webb. She's a regular at Trump International, albeit under far different conditions.
"It's almost, sometimes, I think a disadvantage that I play here so much, because it doesn't play the way it does when I play it the other 99 percent of the time," Webb said.
Katherine Hull, the leader after the first and second rounds, started with four bogeys in her first six holes Saturday. If this was a normal week, she'd have been tied for fifth at that point, but instead was quickly dropping well out of contention to even play Sunday.
Hull chipped in for birdie at the par-3 11th, but wound up shooting 79 after going 4 over on her final three holes.
They'd all gladly trade places with Creamer, her abdominal distress notwithstanding. She was planning to have tests to rule out appendicitis, and was optimistic of simply keeping down some food and getting a bit of rest. The lure of a $1 million payday and a money title might prove the best medicine.
"All I know is I'm definitely not feeling my best," Creamer said. "But we'll try to tough it out."
