Oh wins playoff at State Farm Classic

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS (TICKER) —Ji Young Oh took advantage of Yani Tseng’s late mistakes to win the LPGA State Farm Classic on Sunday.

Oh recorded the first LPGA Tour victory of her career by edging Tseng on the first hole of a playoff.

The tournament was Tseng’s to win on the final hole of regulation, but she bogeyed No. 18 to finish at 18-under-par 270 with Oh.

The playoff went back to No. 18 and Tseng bogeyed the hole again, leaving Oh in the driver’s seat. After chipping within a foot of the hole, she tapped in for her par and the first prize of $255,000.

“It’s hard to explain how happy, how satisfied I am right now. Even at the moment that I’m speaking,” Oh said. “It feels great. It feels great. I’m really happy.”

Oh signed for a 3-under 69 Sunday that included a bogey at No. 17 after she had recorded consecutive birdies. The winner of last month’s major at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, Tseng also birdied Nos. 15 and 16, and Oh’s late bogey looked like it would prove costly until Tseng’s struggles at the 18th hole.

“I feel if you have the lead you have more pressure than when you are not leading,” Tseng said. “When you are loose and you are not leading, so you can do anything you want. You just try to relax and have fun and enjoy, but just couldn’t do it.”

Unfortunately for the LPGA Tour, the event was already without Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer, and will be remembered more for Michelle Wie not finishing than for Oh winning.

Wie was disqualified Saturday after finishing the third round in second place, a stroke behind Tseng. Wie failed to immediately sign her scorecard at the end of the second round on Friday.