NEWS

Salas proves with recent play that her first win might not be too far away

By Doug Ferguson
Published on
Salas proves with recent play that her first win might not be too far away

IRVING, Texas -- The narrow view of Lizette Salas is that she has struggled to finish off her last two tournaments, either over an entire round or one hole.

She was three off the lead going into the final round at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and closed with a 79. Then, she shot 62 in the final round of the LPGA Lotte championship in Hawaii last week to force a playoff with Suzann Pettersen, only to chunk her approach into the water on the first extra hole, allowing Pettersen to win with a par. 

The broad view is that Salas is doing everything else right, and that first win might not be too far away. 

Salas had only one top-10 in her rookie season last year. Her runner-up finish at Ko Olina was her fourth top-10 already this year, and she is seventh on the LPGA Tour money list with $348,463, already more than $100,000 over what she made all of last year. 

Even better, she is No. 7 in the Solheim Cup standings. 

"I just want to win," said Salas, the daughter of Mexican immigrants. "I don't play here just to travel the world. I'm here to win championships, and I'm here to change the world of golf. So if people have something bad to say, then they can say it to me. I'll gladly take criticism. But that's not going to stop me from achieving my goals. I'm here to fight, and that's what I went to USC (University of Southern California). We fight on." 

Salas was a four-time All-American for the Trojans and played on their 2008 NCAA title team.