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Paula Creamer aiming to get back into contention Visiting with family, signing autographs, doing interviews, catching up with old friends. There’s no question Paula Creamer has a lot of demands on her time whenever she returns to her native East Bay for the newly renamed CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge, which begins Thursday at Blackhawk Country Club in Danville, Calif. But the challenge for Creamer, who lived in Pleasanton until she was 14, has always been balancing her off-course commitments with her focus on the tournament. Creamer has finished in the top 20 in all three years the event has been held at Blackhawk but has never been in contention during the final round.

“I kind of know what I can handle. I try to do everything, but I can’t do everything, unfortunately,” Creamer, 23, said Tuesday. “(People) are understanding that I can’t be in seven different places at one time.” Creamer, who has more than $1 million in earnings on tour this year and is the sixth-ranked player in the world, is arguably the top attraction when the LPGA comes to Northern California. Large galleries follow her throughout the tournament, cheering every good drive and groaning after every missed putt. As a result, Creamer always has put a certain amount of pressure on herself to do well. But in the last two years, she’s taken herself out of contention almost from the get-go.

“I’ve been able to handle things at other events. This is harder, because you’re at home,” Creamer said. “I feel like I get distracted in a sense, like I have to go out and win. Whereas, there’s not a lot of other tournaments where I feel I have to win this event. “It’s about giving yourself a chance to win. And on Sundays, going out and winning.” Two years ago in the then-Longs Drugs Challenge, Creamer was 10 shots off the lead after she shot a 5-over 77 in the first round. She made the cut by three strokes and eventually finished tied for 11th.

Last year, Creamer won the Samsung World Championship at Half Moon Bay Golf Links, giving her a certain amount of confidence that she could win in the Bay Area.

Tags: California, Golf, LPGA, Northern California, Paula Creamer, Samsung World Championship, sport, United States

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