Source : ABC NEWS
Mao Saigo of Japan has won the Chevron Championship for her first major title, making a 0.9-metre birdie putt on the first hole of a five-way play-off.
Saigo birdied the par-5 18th in regulation for a 2-under 74, leaving her tied with Hyo Joo Kim, Ruoning Yin, Ariya Jutanugarn and Lindy Duncan who all finished at 7-under 281 at The Club at Carlton Woods.
Saigo won on the 18th in the play-off after Yin and Jutanugarn had birdie tries lip out. Jutanugarn bogeyed the 18th in regulation after stubbing a chip out of thick rough only inches forward.
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Minjee Lee was Australia’s brightest hope heading into the final round but, needing to make up ground on Sunday, she could only manage a frustrating 2-over 74 and an overall tie for 14th.
Lee finished five shots back of the play-off and led a substantial Australian field. Steph Kyriacou was the next best of that bunch in a tie for 30th at 2-over for the tournament.
Cassie Porter was another shot back from that with a T40 finish, while Gabi Ruffels came in at T44 at 4-over for the week.
Grace Kim finished in a tie for 59th, while Hannah Green and Hira Naveed missed the cut and sat out the weekend action.
Saigo, the LPGA rookie of the year last season is the first Japanese winner of this event and the country’s fifth major champion. She has six victories on the Japanese tour, five of them coming in 2022.
The 34-year-old Duncan bogeyed the play-off hole to come up short in her more than a decade-long quest to win her first title.
It was the second time in three years that the tournament ended in a play-off. American Lilia Vu birdied the first extra hole to win in 2023.
Saigo took home $1.2 million from a purse of $US8 million ($12.53 million), an increase of $US100,000 from last year’s purse.
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Winners had been jumping into Poppie’s Pond off the 18th green at Mission Hills since 1988, and Saigo became the second to do it in Texas by leaping into the brown-tinged water. She shrieked and smiled as she went in holding hands with two members of her team.
Saigo entered the day tied with Haeran Ryu at 9-under, but bogeyed five holes on Sunday to fall behind before her birdie on the 18th hole got her a spot in the play-off to set up the thrilling finish.
Top-ranked Nelly Korda shot 70 to tie for 14th at 2-under. Winless this season, Korda won the event last year for the last of her record-tying five straight victories.
ABC/AP
