Kraft Nabisco Championship: Stacy Lewis the champion

It was a par putt that won it, a curving 11-footer needed by Stacy Lewis after her drive on the par-three 17th hole landed in the bunker.

Lewis measured the putt with no expression on her face. "It's gonna die left," she told her caddy, and, sure enough, that's what it did. As the putt slowed, it took a left turn into the cup. Lewis pumped her fist and Yani Tseng's shoulders slumped. A moment later Tseng bogeyed that 17th hole leaving her three shots behind Lewis.

So the walk up the par-five 18th hole, with the gallery applauding Lewis, a 26-year-old University of Arkansas graduate who spent many of her teenage years wearing a back brace because she had scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and who is an enthusiastic supporter of many scoliosis-centered charities, was made by Lewis with perfect posture and a very curving smile.

Lewis won her first LPGA Tour event Sunday with the Kraft Nabisco Championship victory, a major on par with the Master's since it has been played at the same course, Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, for four decades. She won it by playing side by side with world No. 1 and defending champion Tseng on Saturday and Sunday. She played from behind -- Tseng led by two going into Sunday's round -- and she did it by making only one bogey and by withstanding Tseng's confidence during the final round. Tseng hugged the trophy Sunday morning, as if wanting to make it clear how much she wanted it again.

Kraft Nabisco Championship: Lewis leads by two shots with two holes left

Yani Tseng made Stacy Lewis's life a whole lot better just now.

The normally unflappable Tseng, ranked No. 1 in the world and the defending champion of this Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, just three-putted on the 407-yard, par-four 16th hole from about 40 feet away.

She missed a six-footer for par and Lewis now has a two-shot lead with the par-three 17th hole and par-five 18th left to play.

Lewis is aiming for her first tournament win.

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Kraft Nabisco Championship leaderboard

Yani Tseng leads Kraft Nabisco Championship after three rounds

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Stacy Lewis watches her tee shot at No. 8 on Sunday at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Credit: Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images

Kraft Nabisco Championship: Lewis bogeys from sand on 15

Leader Stacy Lewis made her first mistake on the back nine, sending her second shot on the 387-yard par-four 15th into a high-lipped bunker, and after her sand shot made it within five feet of the cup, Lewis missed the par putt.

With three holes left, Lewis now leads defending champion Yani Tseng by one stroke. This was Lewis' first bogey of the day and she is 13 under for the tournament with two of the three hardest holes left to play. Tseng left her 20-foot birdie putt about two inches short on the 15th or it would have been a two-shot swing and a tie for the lead.

The winner of this $2-million Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage gets a check for $300,000. It would be the 22-year-old Tseng's fourth major and the 26-year-old Lewis' first tournament win of any kind.

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Kraft Nabisco Championship leaderboard

Yani Tseng leads Kraft Nabisco Championship after three rounds

-- Diane Pucin

Kraft Nabisco Championship: Lewis leads Tseng by shot heading to final nine

Stacy Lewis just won't wilt.

After defending champion Yani Tseng birdied the 168-yard par-three eighth hole by making a 10-footer while Lewis missed an even easier six-footer for birdie, Tseng and Lewis were tied into the ninth hole of the Kraft Nabisco Championship Sunday at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

But on the par-five ninth hole it was Lewis who made the tougher birdie putt, a slider from about 15 feet out while Tseng watched. Then Tseng pushed her five-foot birdie attempt just off the right edge of the hole so now Lewis, who has never won an LPGA tournament is a shot ahead of Tseng, the world No. 1 who is aiming for her fourth major, heading to the final nine. Lewis is 13-under, Tseng a shot back.

Morgan Pressel, the 2007 winner who triple-bogeyed the sixth hole, recovered enough to post birdies on seventh, ninth and 10th holes to get back to 10-under and three behind the two leaders.

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Kraft Nabisco Championship leaderboard

Yani Tseng leads Kraft Nabisco Championship after three rounds

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Stacy Lewis reacts after making a birdie putt at No. 2 on Sunday during the final round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Credit: Chris Carlson / Associated Press

Kraft Nabisco Championship: Lewis back in lead with Tseng [Updated]

Stacy Lewis, 26, a four-time All-American at the University of Arkansas, had back-to-back birdies on Nos. 2 and 3 and has scrambled back into a tie with third-round leader and defending champion Yani Tseng on Sunday afternoon through four holes of the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

Tseng also birdied the par-five second hole but spent much of her trip out in the rough on the par-four fourth hole and ended up with a bogey five.

Coming up quickly had been 22-year-old Morgan Pressel, who won this tournament, considered the equivalent of the women's Masters since it is a major that has been played on the same course for 40 years, as an 18-year-old in 2007. Pressel was two under through the first five holes and had gotten to 10 under for the tournament, two shots behind the leaders.

But she just finished off a disastrous triple-bogey seven on the sixth hole when her second shot  bounced off a tree and into the water. She took a seven on the par-four hole and is now seven under for the tournament, five behind the leaders.

Pressel's partner Sunday is Michelle Wie, who is even par so far. She got the large crowd going with a birdie on that par-five second hole but her inconsistency evident all week is still here as Wie bogeyed the fourth. She's six shots behind the co-leaders and that seems a bit much to make up. She's also tied with 33-year-old Angela Stanford.

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Kraft Nabisco Championship leaderboard

Yani Tseng leads Kraft Nabisco Championship after three rounds

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Stacy Lewis hits out of a greenside bunker at No. 17 on Saturday during the third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Credit: Danny Moloshok / Reuters

Kraft Nabisco: Everyone must chase Yani Tseng on Sunday

Yani Tseng made her golf game resemble target practice Saturday. She shot a third-round 66, which was the low round of the day. She is 12-under par for the tournament, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, which is considered the equivalent of the women's Masters since it has been played on the same course, Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, for the past 40 years.

It is the first major of the year on the LPGA Tour, and Tseng, a 22-year-old from Taiwan, is the defending champion and seems determined to be a two-in-a-row winner. She had begun the day three shots behind her playing partner and second-round leader, Stacy Lewis, but ate up that deficit by the time she birdied the seventh hole, her third birdie of the day.

Tseng took over the lead by herself for good with a birdie on the 10th hole. Tseng had six birdies, no bogeys and now has a two-shot lead over Lewis, who shot a respectable 71 Saturday.

Lewis will have to match shots again with Tseng on Sunday in the final round.

Also chasing will be 2007 champion Morgan Pressel, who shot a 69 Saturday and is four back of Tseng, and Michelle Wie, who is alone in fourth place, five shots behind the leader. That deficit might have been four had Wie not missed a two-footer for par in the 17th hole. Pressel and Wie will play in the second-to-last group.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Yani Tseng launches her drive at No. 16 on Saturday during the third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Credit: Stephen Dunn / Getty Images

Kraft Nabisco Championship: Yani Tseng leads alone

Yani Tseng is proving why she's the definitive top-ranked player in the LPGA's Rolex Rankings.

The Kraft Nabisco Championship's defending champion is six under par so far in her third round. She just birdied the par-four No. 15 and has gained four shots on her playing partner Stacy Lewis, who began the day with a three-shot lead over Tseng. Tseng is 12 under for the tournament, Lewis is at 11 under.

Morgan Pressel, who won here in 2007, is third. The 22-year-old is eight under for the tournament and has two holes left, including the par-five 18th. Michelle Wie could have been majorly into the chase for the top spot except that she missed her tap-in for par on the 17th; that cost her a much-needed stroke. Wie is now six shots behind Tseng with one hole still to play.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Yani Tseng reacts to her putt at the second hole Saturday during the third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Credit: David Cannon / Getty Images

Kraft Nabisco Championship: Lewis' first birdie gives gets her lead back

Stacy Lewis waited until the par-five ninth hole Saturday to make her first birdie but it was a beauty, a third shot knocked to about eight feet and a nerveless putt so Lewis, who has held at least part of the top spot since she tied Brittany Lincicome for the lead after the first round, has inched ahead of world No. 1 and defending Kraft Nabisco Championship winner Yani Tseng by one stroke.

As playing partners Lewis and Tseng head to the 10th hole, Lewis, 26, a four-time All-American at the University of Arkansas, is 10-under-par for the tournament, and one-under for the day. Tseng, of Taiwan, who had started off this round three shots behind Lewis, birdied the second, fourth and seventh holes to pull into a tie for the lead before her five on the ninth hole.

Streaking up to the third spot is 33-year-old veterean Angela Stanford, a Texan who has just posted a five-under 67 for her third round. Stanford, whose best major finish was a tie for second at the 2003 U.S. Open, is at five-under 211 through three rounds.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Stacy Lewis watches her tee shot at No. 3 on Saturday during the third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Credit: David Cannon / Getty Images

Kraft Nabisco Championship: Tseng pulls even with Lewis

It took Yani Tseng seven holes to wipe out her three-shot deficit to Stacy Lewis during the third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first major of the year on the LPGA Tour.

Tseng, the defending champion and world No. 1, has birdied the second, fourth and seventh holes so far Saturday. Tseng is playing with Lewis, who has needed a steady dose of two- and three-foot par putts to remain even for the day and nine under par for the tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

Morgan Pressel, winner here in 2007; Brittany Lincicome, winner here in 2009; former UCLA golfer Jane Park and Angela Stanford, who is five under on the day through 16 holes, are tied for third at five under.

Michelle Wie is where she was at the start of the day, tied for eighth, even par so far today and three under overall. Wie birdied the par-five second hole, bogeyed the sixth and is pretty much running in place so far in her quest to win her first major.

One new name on the leaderboard is 33-year-old Se Ri Pak, winner of 25 events in her career, five  of them majors but no Kraft Nabisco titles. Pak, whose best finish here was a tie for ninth in 2002, is three under for the day and for the tournament, tied with Wie and Amy Yang for eighth. Pak was the youngest woman inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame when she made it in November of 2007 at the age of 30 years and one month.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Yani Tseng hits out of a greenside bunker at No. 1 during the third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship on Saturday. Credit: Reed Saxon / Associated Press

Kraft Nabisco Championship: Leaders off and parring and birdieing

Stacy Lewis, the leader by three strokes at the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, is playing her third round with world No. 1 and defending champion Yani Tseng. Lewis and Tseng are in the final group and one question is whether -- or more likely when -- will Lewis, who was co-leader after the first round and a non-winner in her three years on the LPGA Tour, start to show some nerves in her play.

With a large crowd gathered at the first tee, Lewis was long and straight with her drive, and she and Tseng parred the first hole. Tseng has just birdied the second hole, though, to draw within two shots of Lewis at seven under, and to have second place to herself.

The afternoon is less stifling than Friday, when temperatures topped 100 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Saturday there is haze and some cloud cover and a temperature of about 90 and the expectation that, at some point, the winds will kick up because Sunday the temperature is supposed to drop even more, into the 80s.

Among those in the top 10, 21-year-old Michelle Wie has posted a birdie (at the par-five second hole), which has drawn her into a tie for seventh and five shots behind Lewis. Brittany Lincicome, who won here in 2009 and former UCLA player Jane Park are both even par through two holes and tied for third.

Japan's Mika Miyazato, who was tied for 14th at the beginning of the day, is two under through seven holes and has moved into a tie for seventh. Maria Hjorth of Sweden is, so far, working on one of the best rounds of the day. She's four under through 12 holes and has moved from a tie for 29th into a tie for 10th.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Stacy Lewis flips her putter after missing a birdie attempt at No. 6 on Saturday during the third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Credit: Danny Moloshok / Reuters

What if, ahhh...eeee....Michelle Wie was more like....un....ohhh..Maria Sharapova?

Watching the final set of the Sony Ericsson Open women's championship match between Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, and the groundstrokes are breathtaking and the fierce fight of the wavery-serving Sharapova is amazing. She's got 42 unforced errors and pretty much can't hold her serve but she's sticking to the second set as if the finish line is a wall of glue and Azarenka is trying to pry her off.

Soon as this is over, it's off to the golf course to focus on the third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage and all the noisy screeching, grunting coming from this tennis match makes my mind wander. What if golfers howled on their backswing?

Imagine if Michelle Wie let out an "Ahhh....EEEE..." every time she teed off while on the hole in front of her Morgan Pressel was howling ""Unnnn...ooooof,.." on every iron shot and Brittany Lincicome over on another hole was screeching "Aiiiii...Yeee..," as she putted.

I have a vision of small desert animals scurrying about with their little paws over their ears and the human gallery running for the hills.

Well, Azarenka just beat Sharapova, 6-1, 6-4. So off to the golf course. And blessed, blessed silence.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Maria Sharapova lets out a yell as she hits a backhand return to Victoria Azarenka in the Sony Ericsson Open final on Saturday. Credit: Andrew Innerarity / Reuters