Paula Creamer extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Paula Creamer

Personal Information
Birth	August 5, 1986 (1986-08-05) (age 22) Mountain View, California U.S.
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Nationality	United States
Residence	Windermere, Florida, U.S.
College	None
Career
Turned Professional	2005
Current tour	LPGA Tour (joined 2005)
Professional wins	9 (LPGA Tour: 7, other: 2)
Best Results in Major Championships
Kraft Nabisco	T15: 2007
LPGA Championship	T3: 2005
U.S. Women's Open	T6: 2008
Women's British Open	T7: 2007
Awards
American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Player of the Year	2003
Golf Digest Junior of the Year	2003
Golf Digest Amateur of the Year	2004
LPGA Rookie of the Year	2005

Paula Creamer (born August 5, 1986) is an American professional golfer playing on the LPGA Tour. She was named LPGA Rookie of the Year in 2005 and has seven wins on the LPGA Tour, with nine total professional wins. Creamer is 24th on the LPGA's all-time money list, having earned more than $5 million in her four seasons on Tour.^[1]

Nicknamed the "Pink Panther" for the color she often wears,^[2] Creamer finished second on the LPGA money list in 2005, and in 2007 was third. In the Women's World Golf Rankings she has been as high as number two,^[3] and as of August 2008 is in the top five.^[4]

Contents 1 Amateur career 1.1 Amateur victories and honors 2 Professional career 3 Personal life 4 Association with color pink 5 Professional wins (9) 5.1 LPGA Tour (7) 5.2 Other (2) 6 Results in LPGA majors 7 LPGA Tour career summary 8 Team appearances 9 References 10 External links

Amateur career

Creamer started playing golf when she was 10 years old.^[5] At the age of 12, she won 13 consecutive regional junior events in Northern California,^[5] and the following year she became the top-ranked female junior golfer in the state.^[6]

She won a total of 19 amateur national titles, including 11 American Junior Golf Association tournaments.^[5][7] She was a semi-finalist in the 2003 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship and U.S. Women's Amateur Championship, and reached the same stage of both events the following year.^[8] In 2004, she also placed second in the ShopRite LPGA Classic, tied for 13th in the U.S. Women's Open, and represented the United States in the Curtis Cup.^[9]

In December 2004, Creamer won the LPGA Tour Final Qualifying Tournament by five strokes, thus gaining membership on the Tour for the 2005 season.^[10] She turned professional immediately after the event at the age of 18.^[9]

Amateur victories and honors

• Won 19 national titles, including 11 American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) tournaments.
• 2002: Member of winning U.S. Junior Solheim Cup team.
• 2003: AJGA Player of the Year. Golfweek and Golf Digest Junior of the Year. Member of U.S. Junior Solheim Cup team.
• 2004: Golfweek and Golf Digest Amateur of the Year. Member of winning U.S. Curtis Cup team. Winner of the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.

Professional career

Upon joining the LPGA Tour in 2005, Creamer quickly became a top player. On May 22, she holed a 17-foot birdie putt on the final hole of the Sybase Classic in New Rochelle, New York to win by one stroke.^[11] Creamer became the youngest winner of a multiple-round tournament in LPGA history.^[12] (Marlene Hagge won twice at a younger age than Creamer. Both wins came in 18-hole events.)^[11] On July 23, she claimed her second title of the year, winning the Evian Masters tournament in France by an eight-shot margin.^[13] She became the youngest and quickest player to reach $1 million in LPGA career earnings.^[14] In August Creamer won the NEC Open on the Japan LPGA tour,^[15] and added a victory at the Masters GC Ladies tournament two months later.^[16] Creamer earned a spot on the U.S. Solheim Cup Team, becoming the youngest player to do so.^[17] She helped the U.S. team win the cup, going 3–1–1 for the competition.^[9] Creamer won the LPGA Rookie of the Year award for her season,^[12] in which she earned over $1.5 million, second on the money list behind Annika Sörenstam, and recorded eight top-three finishes.^[18]

After her strong first-year performance, Creamer's 2006 season was not as successful. She did not win a tournament, and was hampered by wrist and foot injuries during the year.^[19] Creamer still managed to earn over $1 million and make the cut in all 27 LPGA tournaments in which she played, compiling 14 top-10 finishes. Her best result of the season was a tie for second at The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions.^[20]

In 2007, Creamer rebounded with two LPGA Tour titles. On February 17, she won her third career LPGA title at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, making a 40-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole of the final round to defeat Julieta Granada by one shot.^[21] In November, Creamer won The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions, defeating Birdie Kim by eight strokes.^[22] She also played in her second Solheim Cup, leading both sides in points earned. Creamer went unbeaten in five matches as the U.S. team retained the cup.^[23] For the season, she posted 13 top-10 finishes and earned over $1.3 million, third on the money list.^[24]

In February 2008, she earned her fifth LPGA title at the Fields Open in Hawaii, coming back from a late two-shot deficit with birdies on the final three holes.^[25] On April 27, Creamer came up short in a bid for her second win of the year, losing in a sudden-death playoff to Sörenstam at the Stanford International Pro-Am.^[26] The following week, Creamer bounced back at the SemGroup Championship by defeating Juli Inkster in a playoff.^[27] At the U.S. Women's Open, she entered the final round one shot off the lead and in good position to claim her first major championship victory. However, a five-over-par 78 on the last day dropped her into a tie for sixth.^[28] On July 10 at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic, she shot an 11-under 60, just one stroke off of the LPGA Tour record of 59 by Annika Sörenstam.^[29] She shot 60–65–70–73 to beat Nicole Castrale by two strokes.^[30]

Creamer has endorsement deals with Taylor Made, Adidas, RBS, NEC, Kraft Foods, Sundog Eyewear, CDW, Aldila, Citizen Watch, and Bridgestone.^[9][31] She also appeared in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, a video game developed by EA Sports.^[32]

Personal life

Paula Creamer was born in Mountain View, California,^[8] the only child of Paul and Karen Creamer. She was raised in Pleasanton, where the family's home overlooked the first tee of the Castlewood Country Club's golf course.^[6] In 2000, she moved to Bradenton, Florida to attend the IMG Golf Academy, where she graduated from the IMG-affiliated Pendleton High School the week after her first LPGA victory.^[33] As of 2007, she lived in Isleworth, a gated community in Windermere, Florida.^[19]

Association with color pink

Due to her fondness for wearing pink, Creamer's friend Casey Wittenberg nicknamed her the "Pink Panther".^[34] The sobriquet followed her when she turned pro. In addition to her pink outfits, Creamer sports the color on several of her golf accessories, including her club grips and bag.^[35] Creamer also uses a Pink Panther club head cover, in a nod to her nickname. She uses a pink golf ball during the last round of every tournament provided by Precept Golf, one of her sponsors.^[36][37]

Professional wins (9)

LPGA Tour (7)

• 2005 (2) Sybase Classic, Evian Masters
• 2007 (2) SBS Open at Turtle Bay, The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions
• 2008 (3) Fields Open in Hawaii, SemGroup Championship, Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic

Other (2)

• 2005 (2) NEC Karuizawa 72, Masters GC Ladies (both LPGA of Japan Tour)

Results in LPGA majors

Tournament	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Kraft Nabisco Championship	DNP	T45	T19	T24	T15	T21
LPGA Championship	DNP	DNP	T3	T49	T6	T10
U.S. Women's Open	CUT	T13 TLA	T19	T16	T16	T6
Women's British Open	DNP	DNP	T15	T22	T7	T9

LA = Low Amateur
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied
Green background for a win. Yellow background for a top-10 finish.

LPGA Tour career summary

Year	# of events	Cuts made	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top 10s	Earnings ($)	Rank	Scoring average
2003	3	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	N/A	74.80
2004	7	7	0	1	0	1	N/A	N/A	71.42
2005	25	24	2	4	2	11	1,531,780	2	70.98
2006	27	27	0	1	2	14	1,076,163	11	70.62
2007	24	22	2	2	2	13	1,384,798	3	70.50
2008*	20	20	3	1	1	12	1,475,233	3	70.34

*Current as of August 25, 2008.

Team appearances

Amateur

• Curtis Cup (representing the United States): 2004 (winners)
• Espirito Santo Trophy (representing the United States): 2004
• Junior Solheim Cup (representing the United States): 2002 (winners), 2003

Professional

• Solheim Cup (representing the United States): 2005 (winners), 2007 (winners)
• Lexus Cup (representing International team): 2005 (winners), 2006
• Women's World Cup of Golf (representing the United States): 2006

Solheim Cup Record

Year	Total Matches	Total W-L-H	Singles W-L-H	Foursomes W-L-H	Fourballs W-L-H	Points Won	Points %
Career	10	5-1-4	2-0-0	2-0-2	1-1-2	7	70%
2005	5	3-1-1	1-0-0 def. L. Davies 7&5	1-0-1 halved w/ B. Daniel, won w/ J. Inkster 3&2	1-1-0 lost w/ J. Inkster 4&3, won w/ C. Kerr 1up	3.5	70%
2007	5	2-0-3	1-0-0 def. M. Hjorth 2&1	1-0-1 won w/ J. Inkster 2&1, halved w/ J. Inkster	0-0-2 halved w/ M. Pressel, halved w/ B. Lincicome	3.5	70%

References

External links

• Paula Creamer profile on LPGA official site
• Paula Creamer biography on about.com

v • d • e Women's World Golf Rankings | Top ten female golfers as of August 25, 2008 1. ▬ Lorena Ochoa 2. ▬ Annika Sörenstam 3. ▬ Yani Tseng 4. ▬ Suzann Pettersen 5. ▬ Paula Creamer 6. ▲ Cristie Kerr 7. ▼ Ji-Yai Shin 8. ▼ Karrie Webb 9. ▲ Helen Alfredsson 10. ▼ Seon Hwa Lee

v • d • e 2007 American Solheim Cup Team Nicole Castrale • Paula Creamer • Laura Diaz • Natalie Gulbis • Pat Hurst • Juli Inkster • Cristie Kerr • Betsy King (captain) • Brittany Lincicome • Stacy Prammanasudh • Morgan Pressel • Angela Stanford • Sherri Steinhauer

Persondata
NAME	Creamer, Paula
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Pink Panther
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Professional golfer
DATE OF BIRTH	August 5, 1986
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mountain View, California
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH