Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Jasmine Suwannapura eagled the second playoff hole to win the LPGA NW Arkansas Championship on Sunday, denying Lucy Li after a spectacular last-round duel. Li, a 21-year-old Californian chasing her first title, had an LPGA record-equalling three eagles in her 11-under par 60 and had the clubhouse lead at 17-under 196. However, 31-year-old Thai veteran Jasmine recovered from an errant tee shot to eagle the 72nd hole and force the playoff with a 10-under round of 61.
It would be more than an hour before they returned to the par-five 18th, where Jasmine’s eagle putt was an inch short, and they settled for matching birdies to start the playoff. Off the tee of 18 again, Jasmine gained the edge when she found the fairway, while Li hit into the left rough. Jasmine’s second shot raced through the green and spun back, and with Li trying to get up and down for birdie, the Thai rattled in her eagle putt for the win. “It’s been a long time,” said an emotional Jasmine, who claimed a third LPGA title but her first since the 2019 Dow Invitational pairs event. “There was a time that I thought I’m probably not going to win again. But today, everything just fell in the right place at the right time.”
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Li became just the seventh player to post three eagles in an LPGA tour round. The first was a hole-out at the par-four eighth, part of a burst that saw her pick up seven strokes in seven holes. She had birdied the fifth and seventh, then birdied the ninth, 10th, and 11th to seize a share of the lead at 12-under. It was all the more unlikely considering she was one-over for the day after three-putt bogeys at the second and fourth.
“I had honestly no clue that this was going to happen,” Li said. “I did not think I was in it at all. I mean, after two three-putts in the first four holes I was just like, I don’t know. And then some magic came and I shot 60. Even though I didn’t win, just this is the greatest thing.” She briefly took the solo lead at 14-under with an eagle at 14, where a superb second shot left her a four-foot putt. She drained a long birdie bomb from off the green at the 15th and had a two-shot lead after her eagle at the 72nd hole.
But first-round leader Jasmine was hot on her heels. After three front-nine birdies, she kept the pressure on with birdies at holes 10, 11, 13, 14, and 16. Her chances of joining Li atop the leaderboard appeared to take a hit, however, when her tee shot at 18 sailed right and hit a cart path. But her second shot from sparse rough left her a five-footer for eagle, and she made it to complete her 61. “Somehow it went straight, right at the pin,” she said.
South Korean Kim Sei-young carded a nine-under 63 for solo third on 197. Overnight leader Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa and Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol were both within striking distance on the back nine. However, Yubol’s challenge faded with a bogey at the easiest hole on the course, 14, where she hit her tee shot into the hazard left of the fairway. She closed with a 66 to share fourth with Japan’s Mao Saigo on 199, while Buhai’s 69 left her in solo sixth on 200.
© 2024 AFP
