Mochrie Overcomes Nightmares, Defeats Daniel in LPGA Playoff

BOCA RATON, Fla. —  Dottie Mochrie couldn’t think of a better way to win her first LPGA title: Beat the hole that nearly beat her.

Mochrie made a 2-foot putt for par on the fifth playoff hole, at No. 18, Monday to win the $300,000 Oldsmobile tournament over Beth Daniel. The playoff began after Mochrie faltered on the final hole of regulation play Sunday.

Daniel and Mochrie played 4 playoff holes Sunday before being halted by darkness, and picked up on No. 18 Monday.

“I was a wreck,” said Mochrie, who said she slept only 2 hours Sunday night before tossing and turning for hours with “visions of the 18th hole, where I wanted to hit it, where the pin was.

“In the middle of the night, I wasn’t feeling too good about it. But by the time I was ready to get up, I felt like ‘this is your tournament to do with as you wish.’ ”

Daniel, seeking her 15th LPGA victory but the first since 1985, drove into the right rough on the 18th, 161 yards from the hole, and her second shot landed in a bunker.

Mochrie, meanwhile, positioned her second shot on the green, 18 feet above the cup. Her putt for birdie drifted right, but she was left with a tap-in par.

“My husband was sitting there this morning, and said, ‘You know, this hole really owes you,’ ” Mochrie said. “I birdied it Friday, but it got me good over the weekend.”

Mochrie, who made $137,293 as a rookie last year, earned $45,000.