Washington (AFP) – England’s Charley Hull won her third LPGA title on Sunday at the Queen City Championship with a last-hole birdie after Jeeno Thitikul squandered the lead with a closing four-putt bogey. Hull, a four-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, also won the LPGA 2016 Tour Championship and 2022 Volunteers of America Classic and was a 2023 Queen City runner-up.
Hull fired a four-under par 68 in the final round to finish 72 holes on 20-under 268 and beat top-ranked Jeeno by one stroke at TPC River’s Bend in Cincinnati, Ohio. At the par-five 18th, Jeeno led by one but the world number one and top LPGA putter missed a five-foot birdie putt then lipped out for par from four feet, setting up Hull’s two-footer for birdie and the win. “I thought I had to make eagle to be fair,” Hull said. “I wasn’t really watching her putt for birdie because I thought she was going to hole it. I guess it’s not over until the fat lady sings but I was shaking over that last putt because I just didn’t expect it. But yeah, it feels great.”
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Hull sank a long birdie putt at par-three 16th to seize a share of the lead but found a bunker off the tee at the 17th and made bogey, falling a stroke behind Jeeno. “At 17, I hit a decent tee shot,” Hull said. “The bunker was fine but I was in the lip of the bunker. If it was three feet back I would’ve had a shot at the green. To get that one and birdie the last, it’s pretty cool.”
Hull, who led by one when the round began, reeled off three birdies in a row starting at the par-five sixth hole then birdied the par-five 11th before making a bogey at the 13th. Jeeno made a birdie-bogey start then charged with birdies at the fourth and par-three seventh before starting the back nine with back-to-back birdies and grabbing the solo lead with a birdie at the 14th. She kept the lead with an up-and-down for par from a bunker at 15, setting up the last-hole drama.
England’s Lottie Woad was third on 270 with Japan’s Miyu Yamashita fourth on 271. A fifth-place pack on 273 included Japan’s Nasa Hataoka and Chisato Iwai, world number two Nelly Korda and fellow American Jennifer Kupcho, Sweden’s Maja Stark, South Korea’s Kim Sei-young, and China’s Mary Liu.
© 2024 AFP
