Yoo wins Kraft Nabisco title after Kim's 1-foot miss

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — Sun Young Yoo won the Kraft Nabisco Championship with an 18-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole Sunday, earning her first major title after I.K. Kim missed a 1-foot putt on the final hole of regulation.

Yoo won the LPGA Tour’s first major of the season with steady play down the stretch, but she got to make the traditional leap into Poppie’s Pond only after Kim’s mind-boggling miss on the same green minutes earlier.

Yoo, who earned her second career LPGA Tour victory, and Kim finished at 9 under, but Kim could have all but wrapped up her first major with the tap-in par putt.

Kim might have struck the ball oddly, and it toured the lip of the cup before coming out on the same side it entered. The gallery gasped, and Kim raised her left hand to her mouth in disbelief.

“I played straight, and it actually just broke to the right, even that short putt,” said Kim, a 23-year-old South Korean who lives in the Los Angeles area. “So it was unfortunate on 18, but ... I feel good about my game. It’s getting better.”

Kim and Yoo carded 69 in the final round.

Top-ranked Yani Tseng finished third at 8 under with a disappointing final-round 73. Even after blowing a Sunday lead at the Kraft Nabisco for the second straight year, the Taiwanese star had a chance to join the playoff on the 18th, but pushed a long birdie putt wide by an inch.

EUROPEAN TOUR: In Sciacca, Sicily, Thorbjorn Olesen shot 69 to win the Sicilian Open by one shot, holding off Chris Wood who equaled the course record with 8-under 64.

Olesen made six birdies to finish with an overall 15-under 273 at Verdura Golf and Spa Resort for his first career victory on the European Tour.

Former PGA Championship winner Rich Beem finished tied at 11th, along with John Daly and six others. Former Augusta State golfer Scott Jamieson (66) tied for 19th.