Cristie Kerr made only 2 bogeys over her last 45 holes in winning the first major championship of her career.  Long ignored in the lists of talented youngsters, Kerr is at age 29 almost ancient in comparison.  In a back nine duel with Lorena Ochoa which produced compelling theatre, Kerr made a birdie on the difficult 14th hole to put herself atop the leaderboard. "Today was my day," Kerr said. "That birdie at 14 was unbelievable. To hold it together … it’s a dream come true."

Kerr finished at five-under 279 and earned $560,000 (U.S.) for her 10th career victory, this one by far the biggest. It ended an 0-for-41 record in the majors dating to her debut in the Women’s Open as a 17-year-old in 1995.

Ms Kerr spent the weekend openly working on her swing, which she was never truly comfortable with, and making all kinds of par putts with a putter she purchased in South Korea. Now, that’s novel, a touring professional buying a club. She only three putted once all week on the treacherous Donald Ross greens. "Going head-to-head with Lorena and beating her … it was special memories. You can’t make this stuff up," she said. "These are thing you take to the grave and you just smile about."

Ms Ochoa once again failed to finish Sunday  with the lead. The number one player in the world has shown a propensity for hitting some nasty shots when it matters most. I find it hard to fault Ms. Ochoa for failure under pressure, after all you don’t get to be number one at anything if you can’t perform. I think we’ve all been spoiled by Tiger Woods and his uncanny ability to close out challenger’s on Sunday. Compared to his record, 93% of the time he has the lead at the start of Sunday he stills has it at the end of Sunday, everyone is a slouch.  It seems she needs to find some sort of safe shot she can hit that won’t go left at inopportune moments. "I don’t need to be frustrated," Ochoa said. "We still have one more major."  A nice appropriate statement, and one I’m not sure I believe. After Ms Kerr made birdie on No. 14, Ms Ochoa didn’t hit another green in regulation.

It was a marvelous finish to a tournament pestered by bad weather.  I salute Ms. Kerr and congratulate her on her most important victory to date.