Jessica Carafiello had just shot the highest round ever posted by a winner in the 17-year history of the HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open, but you couldn’t tell it by the smile on her face as she walked off the 18th green Friday afternoon at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club.
The Coral Springs, Fla., pro carded a 6-over-par 78 on the final day of the tournament and went bogey-double bogey-double bogey on holes 15 through 17, but even that couldn’t keep her from claiming the $11,000 first prize.
That’s because, after her rocky stretch, she bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 18th hole, draining a 4-foot downhill putt to clinch a one-stroke win over Joy Trotter of Chino Hills, Calif. Carafiello’s 5-over 221 total matched the most over par a Colorado Women’s Open champion has ever finished.
Over her 18th-hole birdie putt, Carafiello said she was thinking, “Wait until the ball goes in, then we can celebrate. The tears (came) just right away. The ball didn’t even stop clicking in the bottom (of the cup) and I was crying.”
It was just the second victory for Carafiello since turning pro in 2005. The first one didn’t come until last month when she captured the LPGA Southeast Section Championship in Florida.
On a day when there were just two sub-par rounds, Trotter shot an even-par 72 despite a double bogey on the 15th hole. Cindy Figg-Currier, who won an LPGA Tour event in 1997, bogeyed two of her last three holes to shoot 76 and finish two strokes back, in third place.
“Today the weather was beautiful so you would think the scores would have come down instead of going up,” Figg-Currier said. “But I think they had some tough pins and they moved the tee back on 17 (a par-3). But you know what? They weren’t going to give the money away; you had to work for it. That’s understandable.”
For a while there, though, it looked like Carafiello would have a cakewalk to victory. She took a four-stroke lead into the day and was up by six shots on the front nine Friday.
But things startled to unravel a bit for the mini-tour player/teaching pro down the home stretch. After a bogey on 15, her approach shot went into a bunker on the par-4 16th and she three-putted for double bogey. On No. 17, Carafiello needed two chips and two-putted for another double.
“I just looked up to God (and thought), ‘God, I know you have a plan but help me out here,’” she said. “’Please help me out. Do whatever you need to help me out.’”
The 27-year-old helped herself out on the 18th hole with two well-placed shots, then used a backstop behind the hole and watched her 71-yard approach trickle back within 4 feet of the cup. She sank the left-to-right birdie putt for the win, and then was showered with some water by friends as she was walking off the green.
“A putt to win — that’s what we play for, that‘s what we practice for,” said Carafiello, who called the victory the biggest of her life. “I woke up this morning thinking, ‘Man, I want a putt to win.’ That’s what I said (to her caddie) in the fairway. ‘I want this. I’m going to embrace it. I’m going to get up and down to win this tournament.’”
Despite the pressure-filled finish, Carafiello said she’s been through tougher situations.
“Everyone says the second (win) is the hardest, but you know what? The first one was five or six years in the making,“ she said. “The second one — I feel comfortable out here.”
To make things even better for Carafiello, she not only won the individual title, but captured the team championship (with amateur Jay Small), which was worth an additional $2,800. Moira Dunn likewise swept both titles last year.
Somin Lee Rallies to Earn Low-Amateur Honors: Denver’s Somin Lee, a two-time CWGA Junior Player of the Year, staged a final-round comeback to claim low-amateur honors after trailing by six strokes in that competition going into the final day.
Lee (pictured at left), who teed off in the first group on Friday, birdied two of her last three holes to earn the amateur title by one shot over Louisville’s Brooke Collins, who carded the best round of the day, a 3-under-par 69.
With a 1-over 73 on Friday, Lee finished at 10-over-par 226, good for sixth place overall.
“I can’t believe I won by one stroke,” said Lee, a recent Overland High School graduate who will play college golf at Pepperdine. “I talked to the Pepperdine coach yesterday and she said, ‘Just be in the top five overall.’ I was like, ’There’s no way I can be in the top five.’ But I did better than I thought and I’m proud of myself.”
Not only were Lee and Collins the top two amateurs, they were the top Colorado finishers overall in the Colorado Women’s Open, placing sixth and eighth, respectively.
Notable: Allison Micheletti, whose boyfriend — 2010 PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer — caddied for her this week, struggled in her final round, shooting 85 and finishing in last 42nd place at 26-over-par 242. Micheletti birdied her first hole on Friday, but recorded two triple bogeys, a double bogey and six bogeys the rest of the way. … Figg-Currier, who won more than $1.9 million in her LPGA Tour career, said she’d like to return to the Colorado Women’s Open in the future. … The other one-time LPGA Tour winner in the field, Charlotta Sorenstam, finished in 30th place on Friday (77-77-79–233). … Erin Houtsma of Denver, who gave birth on March 17, placed 23rd and earned $647, increasing her record total for career Colorado Women’s Open earnings to $27,504.
