Kerr finishes the chase 3 strokes ahead of competition

The chase was on, indeed.

And in some ways, it seemed like Cristie Kerr led that fourth round all the way from start to finish.

Even though she was three strokes off the lead to begin it.

Even though she didn’t really get going until a few holes into it Saturday after the magnificent 62 on Friday.

It was obvious that Su-Yeon Jang’s three-shot lead was precarious heading into the final round of the Lotte Championship.

If Kerr still had some momentum left from the previous day’s 10-under round, she could make up those three strokes faster than you can say “18-time winner on the LPGA Tour.”

And that’s exactly what she did with six birdies — after parring the first four holes — for a 66.

And now she is a 19-time winner.

“It didn’t start out so hot,” Kerr said. “But I knew if I just hung in there and made a couple birdies I would get it going, and the back nine was magic for me this week.”

The two battled back and forth for a while, with Alena Sharp lurking closely (tied with them at one point). And Danielle Kang and Stacy Lewis made early big moves from the shadows.

For much of the afternoon at Ko Olina Golf Club, it appeared the Lotte might need a third playoff in its six years of existence to determine its new champion.

But that proved unnecessary, as it came down to who would make the fewest mistakes. And Kerr was flawless.

Jang’s double bogey on 6 and bogey on 8 hurt her chances. She could have easily folded after her lapses, but Jang battled back. As did Sharp following front-nine mishaps. Also, In Gee Chun and Lydia Ko joined the posse trying to run down the leaders. But they, along with Kang and Lewis, ran out of gas and/or holes.

The tipping point in the Kerr-Jang duel was the two-stroke swing on the 14th hole. Jang bogeyed and Kerr birdied. Jang shot even-par 72, which wasn’t going to cut it on a day where a light breeze made scoring relatively easy.

“What a beautiful week of weather we had,” Kerr said, in a statement that at first seemed sarcastic because of the rain that caused delays. But she was talking about the lack of blustery winds. “Usually it’s so windy your eyelashes are bending back into your face.”

Kerr has seven more LPGA Tour wins than the previous three winners here, combined. Two of her victories were in majors.

There’s nothing wrong and something very exciting about tournaments where young stars like Sei Young Kim and Minjee Lee rise and win. But adding an elite LPGA veteran with Kerr’s name recognition to the winners’ gallery here lifts the event to another level.

Many fans were here Saturday because Kerr was in contention. They stood three and four deep at the 18th tee.

Kerr is no stranger to playing in this and other tournaments in Hawaii. She’s competed at Lotte every year and made the top 10 four times now.

“I’ve always loved the golf course. I grew up on grass like this in Miami with the grain,” she said. “I’ve always loved coming here and looking at the ocean. I didn’t even think about it until after I shot 10 under (Friday) that turtles are really good luck for me … and I went swimming with the turtles (and) I inadvertently touched one (that) kind of swam at me.”

As she closes in on 40 in October, she bristled at a question about her age compared to many of the young pros.

“You know what, Sergio Garcia just won the Masters, nobody talked about his age, so I think we need to stop talking about age out here,” she said.

But with age comes experience, and Kerr concedes it helped her win.

“Very few players are lucky enough like I am to have a career as long as I’ve had and be competitive as long as I’ve been competitive,” she said. “Having that experience and being competitive, it’s an advantage, I think.”

“When I felt like I didn’t have it on the first four or five holes, I didn’t worry, I didn’t rush, and soon as I made my first birdie it was kind of like off to the races,” she said.

With age comes more injuries, too, and Kerr battled through a difficult rehab from knee surgery to play this season.

But there were no physical problems for her Saturday, and Kerr was ahead of the field from first tee to 18th green Saturday — regardless what the leaderboard read for much of the afternoon.

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