Corning's Classic Finishes

2007 – Young Kim

Winning card: 68-64-68-68—268 (-20)

Purse: $1,300,000 (winner's share: $195,000)

Field: 144 Players

Cut: 74 players at 143 (-1)

Charity Disbursements: $315,000

Highlights: Young Kim put a second-round 64 in among three 68’s to capture the 2007 Classic. She was one of four players to play all four rounds in the 60s. Her 268 (-20) was three strokes better than Paula Creamer and Mi Hyun Kim who tied for second. The others consistently under 70 were In-Kyung Kim who tied for fourth with a 272, Ai Miyazato, the young Japanese sensation on the women’s golf circuit who tied for 6th with a 273, and Laura Davies of England who had four 69’s for a 276, tied for 11th. Young Kim became our event’s eighth Rolex first-time winner and our sixth winner in OT. Our first-round leader with an 8-under 64 had a familiar name – Sorenstam – but it was Charlotta, Annika’s sister. It was her only sub-par round, however, and she finished with a 287.

2006 - Hee-Won Han

Winning card: 66-70-69-68 - 273 (-15)

Purse: $1,200,000 (winner's share: $180,000

Field: 144 Players

Cut: 72 players at 144 (E)

Charity Disbursements: $300,000

Highlights: Our 28th LPGA Corning Classic saw a new name atop the leader board after each round, but Hee-Won Han hung tough from start to finish to win it. But not until the end of a four-hole sudden death playoff, our longest ever. With a first-round 66 she was one stroke behind Nancy Scranton and Meena Lee. After Round 2, the local newspaper headline proclaimed "Big Name Leads Classic" as Virada Nirapathpongporn backed up her opening 66 with a 67 and a one-stroke lead. The new name on Saturday was Jeong Jang, who, at -15, had a three-stroke lead over Scranton, Nirapathpongporn and Brandie Burton. Han was hanging in at -11. The stage was set. Han, who had carded a record-tying 62 here the year before and was on a hot streak, caught Meena Lee on the final hole to force the marathon playoff. Hee-Won was unable to defend her title due to the pending birth of her first child.

2005 - Jimin Kang

Winning card: 69-70-68-66-273 (-15)

Purse: $1,100,000 (winner's share: $165,000)

Field: 140 Players & 2 amateurs

Cut: 73 players & 1 amateur at 147 (+3)

Charity Disbursements: $292,000*
* Included a one-time $5,000 gift to the Corning Chapter, American Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief.

Highlights: To be sure, there was electricity in the air in 2005 as Annika Sorenstam returned to defend her title. She nearly did. As the final round neared its end, all the electricity was with Kang. After a near-disastrous 14th hole double-bogey put her two strokes behind Meena Lee, she rebounded on the 15th with an ace to pull even again and followed it with a birdie on 16 to go one up. Lee birdied 17 to send both players to the final tee dead even again. Kang avoided trouble on the final hole to make par while Kang drove into a tree and took a double bogey to share second place with Annika Sorenstam.

2004 - Annika Sorenstam

Winning card: 65-67-70-68--270 (-18)

Purse: $1,000,000 (winner's share: $150,000)

Field: 143 Players

Cut: 78 players at 145 (+1)

Charity Disbursements: $252,000

Highlights: The world's best woman golfer at the time returned to Corning after a nine-year absence, Annika Sorenstam showed why she was the best as she started off with a first round 65. More amazing, she did it without benefit of a practice round, having arrived in Corning late Wednesday. She shared the first-round lead with Liselotte Neumann. Michelle Estill squeezed into the lead on Friday by one stroke and with both players carding 70's on Saturday, the situation was unchanged. But only for one more round as Sorenstam's Sunday 68 gave her a two-stroke victory over Estill and Vicki Goetze-Ackerman who tied for second.

2003 — Juli Inkster

Winning card: 68-66-68-62. (24-under-par).

Purse: $1,000,000 (winner’s share: $150,000).

Charity Disbursements: $218,000

Highlights: Juli Inkster, a member of the LPGA's elite Hall of Fame, became the 23rd different Corning Champion when she captured the 25th Annual LPGA Corning Classic with a record-setting 24-under-par score of 264 - including a career-low final round 62 - defeating runner-up Lori Kane of Canada by four shots.

2002 — Laura Diaz

Winning card: 66-69-69-70--274. (14-under-par).

Purse: $1,000,000 (winner’s share: $150,000).

Charity Disbursements: $218,000

Highlights: Laura Diaz won our first Million Dollar tournament, but not without that ol' familiar someone - Rosie Jones - nipping at her heels. After 23 years, the LPGA Corning Classic finally had its New York State-born champion...Laura Diaz of Scotia, NY.

2001 — Carin Koch

Winning card: 68-67-69-66--270 (18-under-par).

Purse: $900,000 (winner’s share: $135,000).

Charity Disbursements: $212,000

Highlights: It was an All-Europe threesome atop our final leaderboard in 2001, with Sweden's Carin Koch edging Scotland's Mhairi McKay and Maria Hjorth, another Swede. Koch was the only player to card four rounds in the 60's and, for a while, looked like she might match Tammie Green's record 20-under total. It definitely erased Koch's memory of 1997 when she took a disqualification that cost her a top-20 finish.

2000 — Betsy King

Winning card: 69-68-69-70—276. (12-under-par).

Purse: $800,000 (winner’s share: $120,000).

Charity Disbursements: $204,000

Highlights: Another playoff - our third and, fittingly, it involved three players: Betsy King, Kelli Kuehne and Vicki Goetze-Ackerman. After halving the 18th hole, the trio moved on to the 8th where King with the only uphill putt after two strokes, holed out for a birdie and the win. After 18 years without one, now there were two repeat Corning Classic champions.

1999 — Kelly Kuehne

Winning card: 69-69-70-70—278. (10-under-par).

Purse: $750,000 (winner’s share: $112,500).

Charity Disbursements: $160,000

Highlights: Two pair (69's and 70's) was good enough as Rosie Jones failed to make her pair of 68's three of a kind on Sunday. Kuehne took the pot...but not without a fight as Rosie, down six with four to go, stormed back as Kuehne faltered and came close to losing it all on the final hole. When it was over, it was just another classic finish to another Corning Classic.

1998 — Tammie Green

Winning card: 67-70-66-65—268. (20-under-par).

Purse: $700,000 (winner’s share: $105,000).

Charity Disbursements: $172,000

Highlights: Our 20th tournament started off the way the 19th ended, with Tammie Green and Rosie Jones playing head-to-head as a twosome on Thursday and Friday. By early Sunday afternoon, one thing was perfectly clear. There would be no playoff this time. Green swept over the course in a record-shattering 20 under par. Stepping to the mike on the 18th green, with a broad grin, she wiped away a year-old memory by saying: "What putt?"

1997 — Rosie Jones

Winning card: 72-69-71-65—277. (11-under-par).

Purse: $650,000 (winner’s share: $97,500).

Charity Disbursements: $158,000

Highlights: Green led by Michele Redman by two shots entering the fourth round. Jones was four shots back, then proceeded to shoot the best round of the tournament. Green, the front-runner, shot a respectable 69 but found herself tied with Jones at the end of 72 holes.
Challenge met. Promise kept. String broken. But not easily. Jones needed a tournament-best 65 to catch Tammie Green and force a sudden-death playoff on the 18th hole. With Green lying two and 12 feet from the hole, Jones studied her line from the front left side of the green, then stroked a double-curving putt 40-plus feet into the heart of the cup for a birdie that proved the winner.

1996 -- Rosie Jones.

Winning card: 67-69-71-69--276. (12-under-par).

Purse: $600,000 (winner's share: $90,000).

Charity Disbursements: $150,000

Highlights: Jones and Skinner were tied five times in the final round, but Jones pulled away on the back nine with just one bogey and three birdies, including one at the par-4 13th, the hardest hole on the course.
18 LPGA Corning Classics...18 different champions. With her victory, Jones extended the longest string in LPGA history...number of tournaments without a repeat or successful defense. But, during the 18th Green Ceremonies, Rosie raised the bar and threw down the gauntlet, pledging to win again in '97.

1995 -- Alison Nicholas

Winning card: 70-67-66-72--275 (13-under-par).

Purse: $550,000 (winner's share: $82,500).

Charity Disbursements: $150,000

Highlights: Nicholas overtook Pat Bradley with a third-round 66, then held on during Sunday's rainy fourth round by parring the last three holes while Mucha, playing ahead of Nicholas, double-bogeyed the 18th hole.
Nicholas' second-round 67 was her first of the year in the 60s and she said it gave her a big confidence boost. That it did. She went one stroke better on Saturday, taking her low enough that the considerably cooler temperatures and a few sprinkles on Sunday didn't derail her run to the title. Of playing in Corning, she said it reminds her of her native England...the weather...the trees...the weather...the weather.

1994 -- Beth Daniel

Winning card: 67-71-71-69--278 (10-under-par).

Purse: $500,000 (winner's share: $75,000).

Charity Disbursements: $160,000

Highlights: Daniel punched a 4-iron through an opening in the trees to within 12 feet of the hole on No. 18. Daniel then made the birdie putt, at about the same time that Ramsbottom missed a par putt on No. 17. The two-shot swing gave Daniel the title. Ramsbottom led after each of the first three rounds and led by three shots on Sunday with six holes to play before faltering. Farwig shot a final-round 71 to tie for second with Ramsbottom.
When Daniel came off the 18th green Saturday, her stride was a resolute sign she intended to change things on Sunday. She did, and became our 16th winner in as many events. She went on to a great year - Vare Trophy and Rolex Player of the Year, which qualified her for the 1995 Skins Game. Daniel told both the LPGA and the Skins Game organizers not to invite her...she intended to be here in Corning to defend her title. Class.

1993 -- Kelly Robbins

Winning card: 70-68-70-69--277 (11-under-par).

Purse: $500,000 (winner's share: $75,000).

Charity Disbursements: $170,000

Highlights: Kelly Robbins hit a 6-foot par putt on the first playoff hole to edge Nicholas, who had started the day four strokes back. Nicholas' 65 was only two shots off the course record. She tied Robbins on the 15th hole and remained even until the playoff. It was the first career victory for Robbins.
Robbins notched two eagles in her second round to propel her into the lead only to be caught by England's Alison Nicholas to force our second playoff. A par on Hole 8, the playoff hole, brought Robbins the title along with a Rolex First-Time Winner's watch. Had Nicholas prevailed, she, too, would have garnered the crown and the watch.

1992 -- Colleen Walker

Winning card: 65-70-69-72--276 (12-under).

Purse: $450,000. (winner's share: $67,500).

Charity Disbursements: $159,000

Highlights: Walker became the first person in the history of the Corning Classic to lead after all four rounds. Her even-par 72 in the final round came in cold, wet weather. The Sunday temperature of 38 degrees was 50 degrees colder than Saturday's high.

1991 -- Betsy King

Winning card: 69-73-65-66--273 (9-under).

Winning purse: $400,000 (winner's share: $60,000).

Charity contributions: $150,000 to area hospitals.

Highlights: King rallied from seven strokes behind Richard after two rounds by shooting 13-under-par for the final two days. The course returned to a par of 72.
In 1990 it was a native of our neighbor to the east, Massachusetts. In '91, it was a native of our neighbor to the south - Betsy King of Limekiln, PA. That was close enough that her parents were on hand as she blew the field away on Sunday to win by six strokes and then joined her at the 18th Green Ceremonies. Nice touch.

1990 -- Pat Bradley

Winning card: 69-70-66-69--274 (10-under)

Purse: $350,000 (winner's share: $52,500).

Charity contributions: $150,000 to area hospitals.

Highlights: Bradley took control of the tournament with 6-under-par 66 in the third round. Her 69 in the final round held off a charging Patty Sheehan.
The first of nine Classics played opposite the J.C.Penney Skins Game, the 1990 event came up a winner. The juxtaposition brought Corning increased visibility through NBC/ESPN TV coverage (our first) and a feature article in SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. And Sunday, a victorious Hall of Fame-bound Bradley proclaimed a victory at the Skins wouldn't get her there...then held up the Corning trophy and said: "But this will." The large gallery roared its approval.

1989 -- Ayako Okamoto

Winning card: 69-66-67-70--272 (12-under).

Purse: $325,000 (winner's share: $48,750).

Charity Disbursements: $139,000

Highlights: Okamoto and Daniel moved to the front of the field with their 66s in the second round. Okamoto pulled away by shooting a 67 in the third round.
Domination was the word for Okamoto's performance. She won by six strokes, the largest margin on the Tour that year. Her play here and at Rochester the following week earned her a $4,000 bonus in the Hewlett-Packard Par Busters program. She donated the entire award to the charities of the two tournaments. Okamoto had forgotten to sign up for the Corning tournament and only got into the field after another player withdrew. Karma.

1988 -- Sherri Turner

Winning card: 71-63-69-70--273 (15-under-par).

Purse: $325,000 (winner's share: $48,750).

Charity Disbursements: $136,000

Highlights: Turner moved into contention with her 63, which tied the course record. She took the lead when Ku shot a 73 in the third round.
An established long-ball hitter, Sherri Turner turned it on and let it all out on the way to the LPGA Corning Classic title in '88. Her string of six birdies on holes 2 through 7 on Friday still stands as an LPGA Corning Classic record.

1987 -- Cindy Rarick

Winning card: 70-69-69-67--275 (13-under-par).

Purse: $275,000 (winner's share: $41,250).

Charity Disbursements: $127,500

Highlights: Five down, four holes to go. That was Rarick's position through 14 on Sunday before she rode four straight birdies right to the 18th Green Ceremonies as yet another new LPGA Corning Classic Champion. Topping off that exciting finish, our final scoreboard was a sight that amazed even veteran tour producer Ken Young - every player on the board finished double-digit red...a sight he said he'd never seen before.

1986 -- Laurie Rinker-Graham

Winning card: 72-70-70-66--278 (10-under-par).

Purse: $250,000 (winner's share: $37,500).

Charity Disbursements: $122,500

Highlights: Rinker-Graham holed a sand wedge from 82 yards for eagle on the 14th hole during her final-round 66.
Another fair-weather tournament, another nearly all-red final leaderboard, another thrilling finish and another new LPGA Corning Classic Champion as Laurie Rinker outlasted two Hall of Fame-bound players, Beth Daniel and Pat Bradley.

1985 -- Patti Rizzo

Winning card: 69-68-64-71--272 (16-under-par).

Purse: $250,000 (winner's share: $37,500).

Charity Disbursements: $111,000

Highlights: Rizzo led a literally red-hot field through though four perfect days of fantastic golf that produced a final jumbo board on which every score, top-to-bottom, side-to-side was posted in red. A hint of tournaments to come, the 1985 Classic was truly a golf spectator's spectacular. Great golf was played all over the place.

1984 -- JoAnne Carner

Winning card: 71-69-71-70--281 (7-under-par).

Purse: $150,000 (winner's share: $22,500).

Charity Disbursements: $104,000

Highlights: Carner earned her 40th career victory when Okamoto and Sherri Turner were unable to make a move in the final round.
They call her "Big Mama" for many reasons, but the biggest has to be her record. When she came into Corning, she had won more tournaments, earned more money and collected more Vare Trophies than any other active player at the time. When she won here, added another record, supplanting Spuzich as the oldest player to win an LPGA tournament.

1983 -- Patty Sheehan

Winning card: 70-70-69-63--272 (16-under-par).

Purse: $150,000 (winner's share: $22,500).

Charity Disbursements: $120,000

Highlights: Sheehan's course-record 63 gave her the widest margin of victory in tournament history.
No playoff this time. Third as a rookie in '81, second as a sophomore in '82, champion in '83, Sheehan used the Corning event to start a string of 16 top-10 finishes in 19 events - 13 in the top 5. It was a run neither Corning fans or Sheehan herself will ever forget.

1982 -- Sandra Spuzich

Winning card: 69-72-70-69--280 (8-under-par).

Purse: $125,000 (winner's share: $18,750).

Charity Disbursements: $119,000

Highlights: Spuzich birdied the last two holes, then won in a playoff to become, at age 44, the oldest golfer to win on the LPGA Tour (since passed when Carner won at 46 in 1985).
Spuzich bested 2nd-year pro Patty Sheehan in the LPGA Corning Classic's first sudden-death playoff to win her sixth title.

1981 -- Kathy Hite

Winning card: 71-70-69-72--282 (6-under-par).

Purse: $125,000 (winner's share: $18,750).

Charity Disbursements: $108,000

Highlights: The 17th hole proved decisive as Hite birdied and Sheehan double-bogeyed. It was Hite's only career win.
Our third Classic was exciting not just in the thrilling final round where the leaderboard took some interesting turns, but in the overall play the spectators enjoyed. Over the four days, the LPGA players notched 48 eagles, eclipsing by 6 the previous LPGA record for a 72-hole tournament. It also provided the first ace in tournament play; Elaine Hand did it with a 5 iron on the 11th hole during Round 1.

1980 -- Donna Caponi

Winning card: 66-72-69-74-281 (7-under-par) (Par was 72).

Purse: $100,000 (winner's share: $15,000).

Charity Disbursements: $103,000

Highlights: Caponi set a course record with her opening round 66 to take the lead. After sharing the lead with Barbara Barrow after two rounds, Donna regained sole possession after round 3 and held on for the 2-stroke victory. An estimated 50,000 people thronged the Corning Country Club links over the course of the tournament.

1979 -- Penny Pulz

Winning card: 75-71-70-68--284 (+4) (Par was 70).

Purse: $100,000 (winner's share: $15,000).

Charity Disbursements: $51,000

Highlights: Of the four LPGA events in New York State in 1979, the "rookie" Corning Classic had the largest field. As with any first-time event, every mark was a record. Two still stand: Highest winning score and highest cut relative to par. Thankfully, the near-constant rainy, cold spring weather from Monday to Sunday has not been repeated since.