Geddes Is Last One Standing in Shootout

Jane Geddes had to survive two sudden-death chip-offs to do it but she outlasted Michelle McGann to win the Glendale Memorial Hospital shootout Tuesday at Oakmont Country Club.

Geddes, who won an LPGA event at Oakmont in 1987, pitched out of a greenside bunker to within 10 feet of the 18th hole to defeat McGann and claim the $3,000 winner’s check in the event which is part of the tournament festivities at the Los Angeles Women’s Championship.

McGann’s bunker shot got caught up in the rough and did not make it to the green.

There were seven players in the six-hole shootout. The player with the worst score on each hole is eliminated and the last player remaining wins. If two or more players tie for worst score, they have a chip-off. The players played holes 10, 11, 12, 16, 17 and 18 in Tuesday’s shootout.

“Michelle kind of made it easy on me,” Geddes said of the final-hole chip-off. “But this is all really for fun. I’m glad to get off to a good start this week.”

Geddes beat Kris Tschetter in a chip-off on the fourth hole after both had three-putt bogeys on the hole.

Gedees hit a miraculous 60-yard lob shot over a 70-foot tree to within 15 feet on the par-five 17th hole and two-putted to save par.

Geddes, who lost to Julie Piers in a chip-off on the 18th hole in last year’s shootout, said she arrived at the course moments before the shootout began.

“I jumped out of my car and went right to the tee,” she said. “I didn’t even take any swings.”

Defending Los Angeles Women’s Championship champion Terry-Jo Myers finished third after she bogeyed out of a greenside bunker on the 17th hole.

Tschetter finished fourth, local favorite Emilee Klein had a three-putt double bogey on the 12th hole and finished fifth.

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Cindy Figg-Courier lost a chip-off with Tschetter on the 11th hole and finished sixth and Michele Redman lipped out a three-foot par putt on the 10th hole and was the first player eliminated.

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Hey, what about the Olympics? Tournament officials said the number of foreign credential requests is up from last year. Media outlets from Brazil, Spain, Japan and India are among those that will be covering the tournament.

But the most marked increase has been in requests from Korean outlets interested in covering 20-year-old rookie Se Ri Pak.

“We’ve been overwhelmed with media requests from Koreans,” media relations spokesman Fred Robledo said.

Pak, one of four Korean-born players on tour this year, is expected to perform well.

She tied for 13th in her 1998 LPGA debut at the Health South Inaugural Jan. 16-18. She won six times and placed second seven times in 14 events on the Korean LPGA Tour from 1996-1997 and won 30 events as an amateur.

She has been playing golf for only six years.

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Complaints about parking last year were a primary concern for Rick Groesch when he took over as tournament director in July.

He secured City of Glendale lots 32-35, near Glendale College, for free parking Saturday and Sunday.

A free shuttle will run to and from the lots every five minutes, beginning one half hour before the start of play and ending one hour after play is completed.

The City of Glendale could not sacrifice the lots or the shuttles on Friday. Parking that day is allowed on the streets surrounding the course, which is located at 3100 Country Club Drive. The main entrance is along the 10th hole at the end of San Gabriel street.