HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – Meena Lee patiently waited on the ninth tee when play was held up for several minutes while four ducks slowly waddled across the fairway to one of the large lakes on the picturesque Glen Arbour course.

The 23-year-old South Korean rookie was a lot more antsy a few minutes later when she realized she was in position to win the Canadian Women’s Open.

“I didn’t think about winning at the start, so I felt very free,” Lee said through a translator. “Later, I was getting nervous and very intense.”

After nearly winning twice earlier this season, Lee overcame her back-nine nerves to become the LPGA Tour’s record-tying fourth straight first-time winner Sunday. She closed with a 3-under 69 for a one-stroke victory over playing partner Katherine Hull.

Lee couldn’t relax until Janice Moodie finished. Moodie, the leader after each of the first three rounds, had a chance to force a playoff with a birdie on the par-5 18th, but three-putted for a double bogey that left her three strokes back.

“I couldn’t watch her,” Lee said. “I was very nervous.”

Lee finished at 9-under 279 and earned $195,000 to jump from 13th to seventh on the money list with $643,933. The top player on the money list in the field, she opened with rounds of 73, 68 and 69 on the hilly course.

Lee nearly won the LPGA Corning Classic and HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship earlier this season. She tied for second in Corning in late May, closing with a double bogey to finish two strokes behind Jimin Kang, and lost 1-up to Marisa Baena two weeks ago in the match-play final in New Jersey.

Hull, a 23-year-old Australian who was the 2003 college player of the year at Pepperdine, also closed with a 69 for the best finish of her short career.

Jason Bohn wins B.C. in record fashion

ENDICOTT, N.Y. – Jason Bohn won his first PGA Tour event, closing with a second straight 6-under 66 for a one-stroke victory and a tournament record total at the B.C. Open on Sunday.

After driving into the right trees at No. 18, Bohn salvaged par with a 7-foot putt to finish with a 24-under 264. The 32-year-old Bohn won $540,000 in becoming the 13th player to make this tournament his first triumph.

Bohn, in only his second year on tour, had six birdies in a bogey-free round and edged J.P. Hayes (66), John Rollins (66), Ryan Palmer (67) and Australian rookie Brendan Jones (68). Jones, who held a one-shot lead entering the day, rallied with four straight birdies on the back nine but his erratic play early cost him a shot at the title. Ben Crane (64), Michael Allen (64) and Mathias Gronberg (66) of Sweden were in a group at 266.

The previous tournament record in relation to par was 22 under, set in 2001 by Jeff Sluman and Paul Gow. The tournament record score was 265 by Calvin Peete in 1982. He finished 19 under when the course at the En-Joie Golf Club played to a par of 71.

Nine of the previous 10 B.C. Opens had been decided by one shot – three in playoffs – and this one figured to follow form at the soft course, which allowed for plenty of birdies.

A dozen players began the day within four shots of the lead, and by mid-afternoon six players were at 20 under and four more were just a shot back.

As the day wore on, only the names changed. When the final pair had five holes left, Hayes was at 23 under with two holes to play and one shot ahead of Crane, Allen, Gronberg, and Bohn.

Two-time champion Joey Sindelar made it to 20 under with a birdie at 12, but dreams of winning again vanished in the sand and water at the par-3 14th hole. He sailed his drive into a greenside bunker, blasted out into a water trap, and made triple bogey. He rallied with three birdies to finish at 268.

AP-ES-07-17-05 1802EDT


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