Pettersen Tweets Solheim Apology

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Suzann Pettersen has apologised for her controversial behaviour at the Solheim Cup on Sunday.

Pettersen said that a putt on the 17th green had not been conceded when the USA's Alison Lee picked up her ball, meaning the Americans lost the hole.

She was widely criticised and has now posted on social media to say "sorry for not thinking about the bigger picture in the heat of the battle".

"I've never felt more gutted and truly sad," added the 34-year-old Norwegian.

Pettersen was playing in the fourballs with Charley Hull against Lee and Brittany Lincicome when the incident took place, the European pair going on to win the match.

The Americans thought the putt on the 17th hole had been conceded as Hull walked away after Lee rolled her ball close with the previous effort.

The USA then recovered from 10-6 down to win eight and a half points from 12 singles matches to regain the trophy they last lifted in 2009.

"I was trying my hardest for my team and put the single match and the point that could be earned ahead of sportsmanship and the game of golf itself. I feel like I let my team down.

"I have learned a valuable lesson about what is truly important in this great game."

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Pettersen Keeps Taiwan Title

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Suzann Pettersen held off a late challenge from Azahara Munoz to retain her Sunrise LPGA Championship title in Taiwan.

Pettersen's overnight four-shot lead had been whittled down to a single stroke at the turn after she bogeyed the ninth following three birdies in four holes from Munoz, who then joined the Norwegian on six under with another birdie at 12.

But the world No 2 responded with two straight birdies at 13 and 14, and another at the last capped a resolute three-under 69 and earned a five-shot victory over her Solheim Cup team-mate.

Munoz was left to count the cost of dropped shots at 13 and 16 as she laboured to a back-nine 37, although she still claimed outright second on four under par.

"I was 4 under through 12 holes, and I was really playing really well," said the Spaniard. "I made two bogeys coming in but I hit two really good shots and one came up short and one came up long, just misjudged the wind a little bit but I played really well."

Pettersen's fourth victory of the season made significant inroads into world No 1 Inbee Park's lead at the top of the LPGA Money List.

Park, who did not play in Taiwan, leads Pettersen by just $93,613 with two tournaments remaining this season.

"It feels great to come here and defend my title and play as well as I did," said Pettersen, whose win was the 14th LPGA Tour title of her career.

"It was very tough out there. Since the very first shot on Thursday, the conditions gave us a very big challenge. Today, Azahara gave me an even bigger challenge.

"She played really good on the front nine - well, she played really good all around. I think I can almost thank her for keep pressing and keep pushing me because I just had to keep staying aggressive and try to make birdies."

Another Solheim Cup star, Caroline Hedwall, closed with a two-under 70 to clinch third place on two under, while South Korean Eun-Hee Jee was the only other player to finish under par for the week.

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Pettersen Watches Wie Blackwolf Run

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Even as she climbed into the lead in the second round of the U.S. Women's Open on Friday, Suzann Pettersen took some time to admire Michelle Wie's big move into contention.

Pettersen, the Norwegian star ranked sixth in the world, shot a 4-under 68 at Blackwolf Run on Friday and moved to 5 under for the tournament. But Wie was even better on the day, carding a 6-under 66 to move to 4 under and put herself in position to break out of a season-long slump.

Wie was tied with Cristie Kerr, the 2007 Open winner, one stroke off the lead.

Pettersen was playing in the group directly behind Wie, giving her a pretty good view of what turned out to be an impressive display of accurate approach shots and made putts.

"She was fist-pumping, every putt she looked at," Pettersen said.

Wie said she doesn't spend much time thinking about the attention she received as a high-profile child prodigy in the early 2000s, or whether some fans had written her off since then.

"I don't know if anyone gave up on me or not," Wie said. "I'm sure some did and some didn't. But I never gave up on myself, and today was a good reminder to myself that I can do (it) and I still have it."

Kerr, who was tied for the first-round lead at 3 under with Lizette Salas and Brittany Lincicome, had a 71.

"I always draw on that experience, of course, but it's hard to predict what's an advantage and what's not an advantage," Kerr said of her previous Open win. "You just don't know."

Sandra Gal, Inbee Park and Vicky Hurst shot 70 to reach 3 under.

Salas had a 73 to drop to 2 under. Mika Miyazato also was 2 under after a 71.

Lincicome had a miserable day, shooting an 80 on Friday to fall to 5 over.

"I did nothing right today," Lincicome said. "I couldn't drive the ball. I couldn't do anything right. I couldn't putt."

Seventeen-year-old Lexi Thompson shot a 73 to top the group at 1 under.

Top-ranked Yani Tseng was 2 over after a 72.

Second-ranked Stacy Lewis recovered from a first-round 77 to shoot a 69 on Friday, putting her 2 over. Third-ranked Ai Miyazato, the winner last week in Arkansas, was even par after a 74.

Defending champion So Yeon Ryu shot a 71 and was 1 over.

Se Ri Pak, the Open winner at Blackwolf Run in 1998, also was 1 over after a 73.

Seeing Wie's name near the top of the leaderboard will ring a bell with casual golf fans, even if they haven't heard from her in a while.

Wie was 12 years old when she qualified for an LPGA Tour event in 2002 -- making her at the time the youngest player ever to do so. She went on to compete in a handful of men's tournaments, but never turned her early stardom into consistent success. She has two career LPGA Tour victories.

Now she's 22 years old and, at least before Friday, struggling on the course.

Wie has missed six of eight cuts this season, although she says she has been feeling better about her game.

"The last couple of weeks it started to feel good," Wie said. "Things were coming. My scores weren't showing up as well. But it's a work in progress. Still a long way to go."

And Wie knows she's a long way from a potential victory Sunday, but is excited to have something to shoot for beyond simply making the cut.

"The fact that you're in contention to have a chance to win the U.S. Open is a big deal," Wie said. "I'm so grateful I have that chance right now. I'm really looking forward to seeing the crowds tomorrow and experiencing it all again."

Pettersen said Wie should be given some space to find her game at her own pace.

"You should give her a break," Pettersen said. "She just graduated, four years in college. That's pretty impressive to do that on the sideline of trying to compete out here. So now it's a little different world for her. Now it's all about golf, and she has to find her schedule, how to work it out the best way for her."

Pettersen, meanwhile, believes her own game is in good shape.

"My game is very solid," Pettersen said. "My ball striking is good. My short game is good. And my putting has been really good so far."

Amateur Lydia Ko Honoured

New Zealand’s Lydia Ko has been presented with the inaugural Mark H McCormack Medal for 2011, awarded to the top-ranked golfer in the women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), by professional world No. 2 Suzann Pettersen.

Pettersen, in her role as an R&A Working for Golf Ambassador, made the presentation during practice at the LPGA Tour sanctioned ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne where 14-year-old Ko will be taking on the world’s best players.

The R&A and United States Golf Association (USGA) award is in recognition of Ko’s success in 2011, however, her performances in recent weeks have made headlines around the world.

Now in her 42nd week on top of the WAGR, the South Korean-born New Zealander last month became one of the youngest ever winners of a professional tour event with a four shot victory in the Women’s New South Wales Open. January also saw her become the youngest winner of the Australian Women’s Amateur following a second place finish in the Australian Women’s Stroke Play Championship.

Ko, who also discovered earlier this week that winning the McCormack Medal has secured a place in the U.S. Women’s Open, said: “It is an amazing honour to be the first ever recipient of this award, and follow the footsteps of fellow Kiwi Danny Lee. This award sure was the cherry on the top for an amazing year for my team and me.

“To receive it from a Major winner such as Suzann Pettersen makes something amazing even better. She is someone I have looked up to throughout my career and to be here competing against her this week is going to be real fun!

“I could not in my wildest dreams have expected the start to 2012, I mean 2011 was crazy, and this is even better. I can’t wait to tee it up this week and test myself against the very best in the women’s game. This is where I want to be when I grow up, so to be able to do it when I am 14, it’s going to be real cool.”

A pupil at Pinehurst School, Auckland, Ko burst onto the international stage at the age of 12 when she finished leading amateur in the 2010 Pegasus New Zealand Women’s Open. She tied for seventh, and in the process became the youngest woman to make the cut in a Ladies European Tour event.

An impressive 2011 included becoming the first player to win both the Australian Ladies Stroke Play and New Zealand Ladies Stroke Play Championships in the same year. Ko was also co-Medalist at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship before being knocked out in the second round of match play.

Pettersen, who hosts the Suzann Junior Challenge event in her native Norway, was delighted to spend some time with one of the game’s rising stars.

The 2007 LPGA Championship winner said: “Like everyone else I have been hugely impressed with Lydia’s success. What she has already achieved at the tender age of 14 is completely unprecedented in our sport.

“Her all round game is incredible but what has impressed me the most is the way she has taken success in her stride and kept a down-to-earth attitude.

“I am sure she will remain at the top of the WAGRanking for a long time to come and will enjoy a long and successful career. I will be watching her closely this week!”

Today’s presentation follows a successful first year for the women’s WAGR - overseen by the USGA and The R&A – which was launched in February 2011 following the success of the men’s ranking, now in its sixth year.

USGA Executive Director Mike Davis said: “As the first female recipient of the McCormack Medal, Lydia Ko has secured her place in the history of women’s amateur golf. Her success to date shows that we can expect to see much more of her in the years to come.”

The WAGR is the first time the women’s game has been able to compare international amateur player performance in elite competition and it currently includes a calendar of 1,750 counting events with around 3,500 ranked players representing 84 countries.

The women’s ranking is quickly catching up with the men’s which now encompasses more than 2,500 counting events and, more than 6,000 players representing 100 countries worldwide. The USGA has now adopted those rankings for exemptions into its amateur competitions.

Michael Tate, The R&A’s Executive Director – Business Affairs, said: “Lydia Ko enjoyed a wonderful 2011 but has already eclipsed those achievements just a matter of weeks into 2012 and I am confident she will continue to make history long into the future.

“We are delighted to have her as the first female winner of the McCormack medal.”

The medal, as with the men’s equivalent, won in 2011 by USA’s Patrick Cantlay, is awarded to the female player ranked number one in the WAGR after the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, the last elite women’s WAGR event of the amateur season. By receiving the McCormack medal, Ko will receive an exemption into the 2012 U.S. Women's Open. The USGA announced at its Annual Meeting in Houston that the annual male and female winners of the McCormack medal will receive exemptions into the following year's U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open, respectively.