Katherine Hull Catapults To CN Canadian Women's Open Title

With files from the LPGA

Five-year LPGA Tour veteran Katherine Hull (71-65-72-69=277, -11) overcame a six-stroke deficit at the CN Canadian Women's Open on Sunday to become the seventh Rolex-First Time Winner of the 2008 LPGA Tour season.

Hull carded a final-round 3-under-par 69 that included four birdies and a single bogey to edge her closest competitors - runner-up Se Ri Pak (68-70-68-72=278, -10) and third-place Yani Tseng (70-64-68-77=279, -9) - who combined for eight bogeys and two double bogeys in the final round.

With the win, Hull also punched her ticket to the season-ending ADT Championship, as the $2.25 million dollar purse made the CN Canadian Women's Open the 13th and final Winner Event for LPGA Playoffs 2008.

"I'm shocked that this has actually happened to me, but obviously this is a dream come true. It's just something that all of us out here dream about as kids, and to finally have it come to reality is just amazing. I can't put it into words right now," Hull said. "This is probably not going to sink in until tonight or even tomorrow."

Tseng began the day with a four-stroke lead over 54-hole runner-up Pak, and a six-stroke cushion over Rolex Rankings' number one Lorena Ochoa (66-68-74-73=281, -7) and Hull. However, Hull began her charge by making birdie on the third hole while playing in the group ahead of Tseng and Pak, while Tseng made her first of four bogeys on the front nine on the same hole. Tseng bounced back with a birdie on the fourth hole, but then tallied three-consecutive bogeys to make the turn at 3-over, while Hull birdied holes eight and nine to turn at 3-under and catch Tseng on the leaderboard at 11-under.

Things appeared to briefly look up on the back side for Tseng when she birdied the 10th hole while Hull bogeyed to give the rookie a two-stroke advantage. It didn't last long, though, as Tseng's bogey woes worsened with a double bogey on the 11th hole to knot Tseng and Hull once again, and an ensuing bogey on 12 by Tseng propelled Hull by one stroke. Hull increased her lead to two strokes with a birdie on 14, and played even golf the rest of the way to maintain her one-stroke victory over Pak, who snuck up the leaderboard into second place after finishing her round with back-to-back birdies.

In addition to crossing the $1 million mark in career earnings with the $337,500 winner's check, Hull's victory marked the 42nd LPGA Tour victory by an Australian. She joins Jane Crafter (1), Wendy Doolan (3), Rachel Hetherington (8), Mardi Lunn (1), Margie Masters (1), Penny Pulz (2), Jan Stephenson (16) and Karrie Webb (35) as the ninth Aussie to earn a win.

NOTES
With a third-place finish at the CN Canadian Women's Open, Yani Tseng earned 75 points in the 2008 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race to bring her season-total to 1,171 points through 17 events. Tseng and fellow rookie Na Yeon Choi have been trading positions on the top of the list throughout the season, but Tseng has now built a 150-point lead over Choi (1,021). The duo have also made an impression on the 2008 LPGA Official Money List, as Tseng ranks fourth with $1,408,502 and Choi is just shy of the $1 million mark and stands in seventh place with $979,937.
- - - - -
Momoko Ueda (538), Hee Young Park (457) and Louise Friberg (305) round out the top five rookies in this year's race for the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year title.
- - - - -
Rolex Rankings' number one Lorena Ochoa continues to reign in the 2008 Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy races, as her tie for fourth place at the CN Canadian Women's Open gave her added momentum in both races. Ochoa earned seven points in the Rolex Player of the Year race, bringing her season total to 263 points, which is good for a 110-point lead over Rolex Rankings' number two Annika Sorenstam (153). The six-time winner in the 2008 LPGA Tour season also commands the Vare Trophy race, which is awarded annually to the player with the lowest scoring average. Over four rounds at the CN Canadian Women's Open, Ochoa averaged 70.25 strokes per round, which makes her season average 69.2759 strokes per round through 15 events and is almost a full-stroke better than Sorenstam's second-place average of 70.1475. Both the Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy awards will be presented to the winners at the season-ending ADT Championship.
- - - - -
CN announced on Sunday that the CN Canadian Women's Open raised $1 million for the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Foundation through the CN Miracle Match program. The announcement was made at a special presentation at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club, host of the 2008 CN Canadian Women's Open. The CN Miracle Match is designed to rally communities across Canada to support children's hospitals. Each year since 2006, CN has raised funds to support a children's hospital by matching funds raised through various initiatives that are connected with the CN Canadian Women's Open. The CHEO Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to furthering the physical, mental and social well being of children and their families in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec by raising, managing and disbursing funds to the CHEO center.

1 Katherine Hull -11 71 65 72 69 277 $337,500
2 Se Ri Pak -10 68 70 68 72 278 $202,703
3 Yani Tseng -9 70 64 68 77 279 $147,046
T4 Sun Young Yoo -7 71 72 69 69 281 $93,406
T4 Song-Hee Kim -7 69 71 71 70 281 $93,406
T4 Lorena Ochoa -7 66 68 74 73 281 $93,406
7 Suzann Pettersen -6 69 75 70 68 282 $62,703
T8 Hee-Won Han -5 68 72 72 71 283 $52,159
T8 Paula Creamer -5 71 70 70 72 283 $52,159
T10 Meena Lee -4 68 74 70 72 284 $43,281
T10 Laura Diaz -4 70 70 72 72 284 $43,281
T12 Nicole Castrale -3 68 69 77 71 285 $36,475
T12 Jennifer Rosales -3 72 68 73 72 285 $36,475
T12 Michelle Wie -3 75 70 69 71 285 $36,475
T15 Wendy Ward -2 71 72 73 70 286 $31,296
T15 Jee Young Lee -2 71 72 69 74 286 $31,296
T17 Catriona Matthew -1 69 74 75 69 287 $27,079
T17 Angela Stanford -1 71 77 71 68 287 $27,079
T17 Karrie Webb -1 73 73 72 69 287 $27,079
T17 In-Kyung Kim -1 69 73 75 70 287 $27,079
T21 Moira Dunn -1 F E 73 72 72 71 288 $23,305
T21 Cristie Kerr E 74 71 71 72 288 $23,305
T21 Annika Sorenstam E 67 71 76 74 288 $23,305
T21 Inbee Park E 70 72 71 75 288 $23,305
T25 Hee Young Park +1 75 73 74 67 289 $20,032
T25 Meaghan Francella +1 71 74 72 72 289 $20,032
T25 H.J. Choi +1 73 67 75 74 289 $20,032
T25 Angela Park +1 72 73 70 74 289 $20,032
T29 Janice Moodie +2 76 72 73 69 290 $17,423
T29 Eva Dahllof +2 71 74 72 73 290 $17,423
T29 Eun-Hee Ji +2 71 73 72 74 290 $17,423
T32 Irene Cho +3 72 73 77 69 291 $14,538
T32 Juli Inkster +3 73 71 76 71 291 $14,538
T32 Leta Lindley +3 72 73 74 72 291 $14,538
T32 Morgan Pressel +3 71 74 74 72 291 $14,538
T32 Natalie Gulbis +3 70 74 73 74 291 $14,538
T32 Na Yeon Choi +3 72 71 73 75 291 $14,538
T38 Lorie Kane +4 74 73 73 72 292 $11,114
T38 Liselotte Neumann +4 77 70 73 72 292 $11,114
T38 Eunjung Yi +4 69 76 74 73 292 $11,114
T38 Lindsey Wright +4 73 70 76 73 292 $11,114
T38 Jimin Kang +4 74 73 72 73 292 $11,114
T38 Shi Hyun Ahn +4 75 71 73 73 292 $11,114
T38 Brittany Lincicome +4 72 71 73 76 292 $11,114
T45 Sandra Gal +5 72 76 76 69 293 $8,450
T45 Seon Hwa Lee +5 72 73 78 70 293 $8,450
T45 Candie Kung +5 70 77 73 73 293 $8,450
T45 Christina Kim +5 73 67 79 74 293 $8,450
T45 Alena Sharp +5 71 73 74 75 293 $8,450
T45 Mollie Fankhauser +5 75 70 73 75 293 $8,450
T45 Heather Young +5 72 71 73 77 293 $8,450
T52 Minea Blomqvist +6 72 76 75 71 294 $6,992
T52 Samantha Richdale +6 73 73 75 73 294 $6,992
T52 Shanshan Feng +6 72 74 75 73 294 $6,992
T52 Giulia Sergas +6 75 73 73 73 294 $6,992
T56 Il Mi Chung +7 75 72 75 73 295 $5,993
T56 Jimin Jeong +7 74 74 74 73 295 $5,993
T56 Helen Alfredsson +7 72 74 75 74 295 $5,993
T56 Kris Tamulis +7 71 72 75 77 295 $5,993
T56 Louise Friberg +7 74 74 70 77 295 $5,993
T61 Jamie Hullett +8 70 77 78 71 296 $5,216
T61 Katie Futcher +8 72 76 76 72 296 $5,216
T61 Erica Blasberg +8 70 76 77 73 296 $5,216
T61 Stacy Prammanasudh +8 75 72 76 73 296 $5,216
T61 Grace Park +8 73 73 71 79 296 $5,216
T66 Birdie Kim +9 77 71 78 71 297 $4,717
T66 Soo-Yun Kang +9 74 71 76 76 297 $4,717
T66 Beth Bader +9 78 69 71 79 297 $4,717
T66 Su A Kim +9 72 75 71 79 297 $4,717
70 Seo-Jae Lee +10 76 72 73 77 298 $4,439
T71 Carri Wood +11 73 75 78 73 299 $4,300
T71 Michele Redman +11 73 75 76 75 299 $4,300
T71 Young-A Yang +11 73 74 76 76 299 $4,300
T71 Sophie Giquel +11 72 74 75 78 299 $4,300
75 Liz Janangelo +12 75 73 76 76 300 $4,161
76 Lee Ann Walker-Cooper +13 75 72 79 75 301 $4,109
77 Teresa Lu +14 75 72 79 76 302 $4,057
T78 *Candace Schepperle +15 71 76 77 79 303
T78 Jennifer Greggain +15 73 75 74 81 303 $4,005
80 Allison Fouch +16 72 76 77 79 304 $3,954
T81 Ashli Bunch +17 75 73 80 77 305 $3,878
T81 Sarah Kemp +17 71 77 78 79 305 $3,878

-- Missed the Cut --
Heather Daly-Donofrio +5 72 77 149
Sophie Gustafson +5 73 76 149
Kim Hall +5 78 71 149
Young Kim +5 74 75 149
Salimah Mussani +5 73 76 149
Gloria Park +5 72 77 149
Lisa Strom +5 72 77 149
Adrienne White +5 73 76 149
Dina Ammaccapane +6 76 74 150
Brandie Burton +6 76 74 150
Jessica Carafiello +6 73 77 150
Jackie Gallagher-Smith +6 78 72 150
Kate Golden +6 71 79 150
Julieta Granada +6 75 75 150
Tracy Hanson +6 74 76 150
Rachel Hetherington +6 76 74 150
Charlotte Mayorkas +6 74 76 150
Kristy McPherson +6 73 77 150
Na On Min +6 74 76 150
Becky Morgan +6 74 76 150
Reilley Rankin +6 76 74 150
Karen Stupples +6 75 75 150
Kyeong Bae +7 75 76 151
Marisa Baena +7 77 74 151
Silvia Cavalleri +7 78 73 151
Dorothy Delasin +7 77 74 151
Wendy Doolan +7 79 72 151
*Kirby Dreher +7 72 79 151
Meredith Duncan +7 75 76 151
Nancy Scranton +7 75 76 151
*Stephanie Sherlock +7 78 73 151
Sherri Turner +7 76 75 151
*Sue Kim +8 72 80 152
Sarah Lee +8 77 75 152
Carolina Llano +8 79 73 152
Stephanie Louden +8 77 75 152
Jill McGill +8 75 77 152
Ai Miyazato +8 74 78 152
Sherri Steinhauer +8 78 74 152
Danielle Downey +9 79 74 153
Pat Hurst +9 71 82 153
Becky Iverson +9 79 74 153
Michelle McGann +9 75 78 153
A.J. Eathorne +10 77 77 154
Marcy Hart +10 79 75 154
Mhairi McKay +10 78 76 154
*Kira Meixner +10 78 76 154
Karine Icher +11 78 77 155
Paige Mackenzie +11 79 76 155
Cindy Pasechnik +11 79 76 155
Karin Sjodin +11 79 76 155
Emily Bastel +12 76 80 156
Diana D'Alessio +12 84 72 156
Candy Hannemann +12 77 79 156
Seol-An Jeon +12 80 76 156
Christa Johnson +12 74 82 156
Kelli Kuehne +12 79 77 156
Brittany Lang +12 80 76 156
Meg Mallon +12 79 77 156
Patricia Meunier-Lebouc +12 75 81 156
Mikaela Parmlid +12 77 79 156
*Maude-Aimee Leblanc +13 76 81 157
Kris Tschetter +13 81 76 157
Dawn Coe-Jones +14 75 83 158
*Stacey Keating +14 80 78 158
Becky Lucidi +14 81 77 158
Walailak Satarak +15 78 81 159
Seema Sadekar +16 83 77 160
Linda Wessberg +17 83 78 161
Corina Kelepouris +22 85 81 166

Players Withdrawn
Young Jo
Sung Ah Yim +2 74 74
Jin Joo Hong +6 78 78
Violeta Retamoza +15 87 87