Pettersen’s playoff victory caps a successful event

Greg Nichols was pulling out of the front gate early Saturday evening looking like a guy who’d jumped into the deep end of the pool — with all his clothes on.

His hair took the word "disheveled" to a new level, the grin plastered on his face belonging to a 5-year-old on Christmas Day.

"What a great week," he said from behind the wheel. "What a terrific tournament."

You can’t blame the general manager and director of golf at Ko Olina for being happy. Despite the weird Wednesday-to-Saturday run time — even eventual LPGA Lotte Championship winner Suzann Pettersen wondered out loud, "What day is this?" — the tournament was a success. Final rounds in golf are normally reserved for Sundays, so you can excuse Pettersen for the confusion.

It does play better for the media here from Japan and Korea. It was mid-Sunday morning in those countries when Pettersen beat Lizette Salas in a playoff to capture the second annual women’s golf tournament. The event also had a prime time Saturday slot on the Golf Channel in North America, serving both worlds nicely.

There were some fair-sized galleries wandering the windy course on Saturday as well, and fans were treated to a birdie-fest in a final round not lacking in excitement, despite Pettersen’s best efforts to avoid any drama.

Practically leading from the beginning, Pettersen visited with the media all four days, generally a good indication that life inside the ropes is going well. Walking off the eighth green on Saturday, Pettersen had a six-shot advantage and figured the back nine would be a walk in the park.

The Norwegian would discover otherwise over the next two hours, thanks to a closing nine by Salas that was a lip-out on 18 away from a 28. Most of us would have that score around the fifth hole, not the ninth, but the phenomenal 10-under 62 by the Southern Californian was not good enough to stop Pettersen from claiming her 11th LPGA Tour victory.

TEN YEARS AGO, the truck horn in the middle of her backswing would have done her in. The resulting poor drive at the par-5 13th eventually led to a costly bogey for Pettersen. But instead of spending the rest of the day swearing at the golf gods — something Pettersen did many times in her turbulent 20s — she came back to birdie the 14th and keep Salas in chase mode for the rest of the day.

Pettersen doesn’t apologize for a fiery disposition that has proved to be her undoing on countless occasions, rather she addressed it, as you would a tough lie in the rough, with experience and maturity. She got unlucky on 18 in regulation and had to settle for a bogey that led to a playoff.

OK, not good, but not bad enough to cost her the tournament just yet. Instead of lamenting her fate, Pettersen got on the green in two on 18 in the playoff. By contrast, on her second shot, Salas failed to cross the bar and found a watery grave guarding the 18th green to hand Pettersen the trophy on a silver platter.

An overflow crowd at the 18th gave Pettersen a rousing round of applause upon making her par putt. At 32, she believes her best years are ahead of her. Everybody went home happy, including Nichols, who gave one of those hearty vacation waves with his left hand as he exited the premises, ever mindful that 51 weeks from now, he gets to do it all over again.

Reach Paul Arnett at parnett@staradvertiser.com or 529-4786.