Derrey Wins LPGA Futures Tour Event
6/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
June 19, 2011
DECATUR, Ill. -- Former TCU All-American Valentine Derrey recorded her first professional win with a five-stroke victory Sunday in Decatur, Ill., at the Tate & Lyle Players Championship on the LPGA Futures Tour.
Derrey carded rounds of 68-69-67-68 for a 16-under-par 272 at the LPGA Futures Tour's only major championship and 72-hole tournament. She recorded five birdies and just one bogey in Sunday's final round to pocket the winner's check of $17,500.
"I was playing well and I knew if I was just playing my own game, I would be fine," Derrey said. "It's a great accomplishment because this is my first win as a professional.
"I was more stressed out yesterday. I just had to calm down today and not think about winning."
Derrey rolled in her first birdie from eight feet on the fourth hole. She then slammed home a pair of birdies from 12 and 15 feet on holes 8 and 9, respectively.
"She was a machine with the putter and she outplayed all of us this week," runner-up Tiffany Joh said of Derrey. "This was her week and she clearly deserved to win.
"She made so many good 8-to-10 footers for par that it was just crazy."
A nine-year member of the French National Golf Team, Derrey became the first TCU women's golfer to play in four NCAA Championships. She joined former Horned Frog All-American and current LPGA star Angela Stanford as the only four-time all-conference selections in TCU women's golf history.
In her final TCU tournament, Derrey recorded a 72-hole score of 296 at the 2010 NCAA Championships for TCU's best mark at the event since Rita Moore and Marci Bozarth shot 294 and 295, respectively, in leading the Horned Frogs to the 1983 national title.
