Golf | Ji Young Oh wins State Farm Classic

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Second-year LPGA golfer Ji Young Oh won her first tournament, sinking a 6-inch putt for par to win the State Farm Classic in a playoff over rookie Yani Tseng.

A day after the tournament lost its marquee player, Michelle Wie, to disqualification for failing to sign her card, the sudden-death playoff injected life into what had been an ordinary final round.

Oh and Tseng finished regulation at 18-under par.

Tseng, the leader coming into Sunday, chipped her third shot over the green and into the rough, then pitched her ball to about 6 feet from the cup.

But Oh's third shot, from just inside the rough, left her with the tap-in that gave her the win.

Oh, who spoke English with reporters for much of the tournament, resorted to an interpreter after the overtime because she said she was floored by the win.

"I would love to do this interview in English," she said through the interpreter, "but my mind is totally blank."

Wendy Ward, who lives near Edwall, outside Spokane, tied for ninth at 14 under, winning $34,876. Jimin Kang, a graduate of King's High School in Shoreline, was tied for 12th at 13 under, winning $27,246. Paige Mackenzie, a former Washington Huskies standout from Yakima, tied for 43rd at 8 under, taking home $7,146.

Other events

• Richard S. Johnson birdied three of his last four holes for a 6-under-par 64 to earn his first PGA Tour victory at the US Bank Championship. He finished at 16-under 264 and became the seventh first-time winner on the tour this year. Ken Duke closed with a 65 and was the runner-up at Brown Deer Park Golf Course. Kenny Perry closed brilliantly with a 64 to get to 12 under and finish tied for sixth with three other golfers. He had been criticized for skipping the British Open to play this event after winning three of his last five tournaments.

• R.W. Eaks was the runaway winner in the Champions Tour 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn., posting the lowest score in the tournament's 16-year history. Eaks shot a 7-under 65 in the final round to finish at 23-under 193, four shots better than Ed Dougherty's finish in 2000. Gary Hallberg and Bernhard Langer tied for second at 17-under 199.

• Former Washington State Cougar Kim Welch beat Jin Young Pak on the fourth hole of a playoff to win the Duramed Futures-Alliance Bank Golf Classic at The Links at Erie Village in Syracuse, N.Y. Welch, who won $12,600, and Pak tied at 204 after regulation. Welch then made a 6-foot putt for par on the fourth playoff hole.