English novice Lottie Woad threatened main historical past earlier than Grace Kim defeated Jeeno Thitikul in a play-off to win the Evian Championship.
Woad went into the ultimate spherical 5 strokes off the tempo however charged into competition by firing 5 birdies in a front-nine 30, with the world novice No 1 briefly leaping into the outright lead after a birdie on the thirteenth took her to seven underneath for the spherical.
The 21-year-old cancelled out a three-putt bogey on the 14th with a birdie on the subsequent and completed with three straight pars to submit a seven-under 64 and – with six teams nonetheless to complete – set the clubhouse goal at 13 underneath.
Woad ended a shot again in tied-third, as Kim made a tap-in eagle – after a shocking method into the final – to power a play-off when Thitikul missed a birdie putt on the 72nd gap for victory.
Kim discovered the water together with her method into the primary additional gap however holed out for a sensational birdie to pile stress on Thitikul, who acquired up and right down to match the rating and prolong the competition, then holed a long-range eagle on the second additional gap to assert a maiden main title.
How Woad threatened main historical past
Woad got here into the ultimate spherical requiring a top-25 end to safe her LPGA Tour card, though ideas quicky accelerated to larger prizes when she birdied three of her opening 4 holes on Sunday morning.
She took benefit of the par-five seventh and added one other on the par-four ninth, taking her to 11 underneath, earlier than holing from eight ft on the eleventh and registering a seventh birdie of the day on the par-four thirteenth.
Woad received her maiden Women European Tour title on the KPMG Irish Girls’s Open in her earlier begin
Woad’s par-save try lipped-out on the par-three subsequent to see her fall one behind Thitikul, who adopted a front-nine 33 by birdieing the eleventh, solely to edge again alongside the Thai participant after a shocking wedge shot arrange a six-foot birdie on the fifteenth.
Missed birdie probabilities over the ultimate two holes stored Woad at 13 underneath, as Thitikul didn’t stand up and down from the greenside bunker on the fifteenth however moved into the solo lead with a birdie on the seventeenth.
Kim – who began her closing spherical with two bogeys in three holes – had double-bogeyed the twelfth and was three behind with 4 holes to play, solely to comply with back-to-back birdies from the fifteenth with a shocking eagle on the final to hitch Thitikul on 14 underneath.
Minjee Lee additionally made a final-hole eagle to complete tied-third alongside Woad, whereas a round-of-the-day 63 lifted Angel Yin right into a share of fifth place alongside fellow American Andrea Lee.
Ariya Jutanugarn was in competition after 4 consecutive birdies across the flip however ended three strokes again in tied-seventh alongside Eire’s Leona Maguire, whereas in a single day co-leader Cara Gainer ended the week in tied-14th after a final-round 74.
Woad happy with ‘enjoyable’ week and LPGA Tour likelihood
Lottie Woad: “It was actually enjoyable. I knew beginning the day I used to be solely like 5 off, so I wanted to have a fast begin and I did. Then it was actually simply actually enjoyable after that.
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Lottie Woad says she’ll take time earlier than deciding to show professional after her tied-third end on the Evian Championship
“I’m just going to take the next week and discuss [LPGA Tour membership] with my family and coaches and then I’ll make a decision after that. Always been my dream to play on the LPGA, so yeah, really looking forward to it.”
Leona Maguire: “I played some really good golf this week. Really happy with how I played. Probably the best golf I’ve played in quite a while. I knew my game was sort of trending nicely coming into this week.
“My method shot is one thing I have been working fairly a bit on, they usually had been actually, actually good this week. Yeah, plenty of positives to take out of the week.”
What’s next?
The next event on both the LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour schedule is the ISPS Handa Scottish Open, taking place at Dundonald Links from July 24-27 and live on Sky Sports.
The women’s major season then concludes at the AIG Women’s Open from July 31-August 3, with Lydia Ko returning as defending champion at Royal Porthcawl. Stream the majors and extra with no contract.
