The magical finish ended a comeback in which the slight, 5-foot-4 South Korean showed the toughness of a gladiator, carding birdies on three of her final eight holes.
On a picture-postcard day in the Lehigh Valley, Ji equaled par 71 for a 284 total, a stroke better than Candie Kung and 2 ahead of In-Kyung Kim and Cristie Kerr, the leader after 36 and 54 holes who couldn't quite finish the job.
"I didn't even dream about winning this tournament," Ji said through an interpreter. "But I did it, and I think this is going to be one of the most memorable moments in my life."
The moment of truth for her yesterday came at the 10th hole, which played at 242 yards and dared players to take a shot at driving the green.
Ji tried but wound up in a left fairway bunker. She only advanced her ball to a greenside bunker and then barely got out to the rough. A chip and two putts equaled a double-bogey 6, and she fell 3 shots behind Kerr.
The double bogey, she said, "actually gave me an opportunity to sort of calm myself down, and I think it was one of the factors of winning the tournament."
Huh?
"Up until that point, Cristie was so far ahead, and I didn't think anyone was going to be able to catch up to her," Ji said. "But basically cleared my mind and I said, 'Let's go and play out the rest of the round.' "
Birdies followed, on a four-foot putt at the 13th, and a 50-foot bomb at No. 14. When Kung bogeyed 17, Ji held a share of the four-way tie with Kung, Kerr and Kim.
Kung ended her day at 1-over 285 after a 69, and Ji came to 18 knowing a par would get her into a playoff. She drove into the fairway and hit a 6-iron approach 20 feet left and slightly above the hole.
