Cristie Kerr won the final two holes and posted a 1-up victory over Angela Stanford on Sunday to advance to the title match of the Sybase Match Play Championship against Suzann Pettersen of Norway.
The third-seeded Kerr rolled in a 5-foot birdie putt at No. 17 to square the match and won the final hole with a 3-foot par save after Stanford's chip for par from 35 feet hit off the pin and bounced two feet away.
Kerr was 2-down with five holes to play and got within one with a birdie at No. 15 in the All-American semifinal.
Pettersen, the fifth seed, rolled in six birdies en route to a 4 and 2 win over top-seeded Na Yeon Choi of South Korea. The Norwegian sank a 25-footer for birdie at No. 16 to end the match at Hamilton Farm Golf Club.
Stanford, last year's runner-up to Sun Young Yoo of South Korea, seemed to be in control after Kerr's third shot on the par-5, 515-yard No. 18 sucked off the front of the green.
But Stanford hit her third shot over the green and the mistake was compounded when it landed in a downhill line with mud under the ball.
Stanford, the No. 18 seed, searched for a way to land the ball on the green and considered all angles before going at the pin. However, the ball came out hot and rolled down the front of the raised green, landing almost where Kerr's third shot had stopped.
Kerr had hit her fourth to within three feet so Stanford went at the pin and the ball banged off it. Kerr then made her par.
Kerr pumped her fist after putting herself in the $375,000 title match later in the afternoon.
Pettersen never trailed. She won the second with a birdie and the third with a par. She broke the match open with birdies at the 11th, 12th and 13th holes.
Kerr has 14 career wins, including two last year. Pettersen has won six times, but not since the CN Canadian Women's Open in 2009. She had 14 top-10 finishes last year, including six second-place finishes.
Choi, the leading money winner on the LPGA Tour last year, parred each of the 16 holes in her semifinal loss.
Stanford, who hasn't won since 2009, and Choi were to play for third place in a match that teed off minutes before the Kerr-Pettersen match.
