Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – South Korea’s Kim Hyo-joo rolled in a six-foot birdie putt at the first playoff hole to win the LPGA Ford Championship on Sunday ahead of American Lilia Vu. Kim had nine birdies in her eight-under-par 64, the lowest round of the day at the Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, Arizona, taking her to a 22-under total of 266. Overnight leader Vu carded a four-under-par 68, but when they returned to the par-four 18th for the playoff, Kim put her approach six feet from the pin while Vu left herself more than 15 feet. The American’s putt came up short and Kim sank hers to claim her seventh LPGA victory, and her first since 2023.
“So it’s been a while since I had any wins so I was getting a little bit stressed,” the 29-year-old Kim admitted. “But I did work out a lot during the winter time so now that I have a win I’m a little bit lighthearted.”
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“The feeling was great today,” said Kim, who needed just 24 putts. “I just thought one birdie at a time.” Having started the day four shots off Vu’s lead, Kim had seven birdies in the first 11 holes to seize the solo lead on 21-under. However, she found the water off the tee at 12 on the way to a bogey, missing a short par save attempt. Kim then drained a birdie putt from off the green at 16 and added another birdie at 17 to land in the clubhouse with a one-stroke lead.
But Vu got up and down for birdie from a greenside bunker at the 17th, blasting out of the sand to about a foot. Vu, who had endured a long wait for the green to clear at 17, had another tense delay on the 18th tee as Nanna Koerstz Madsen searched for her ball in the desert scrub.
– No nerves – Vu’s second shot bounded through the green, but the two-time major winner and former world number one chipped to about six feet and holed the par putt to force a playoff. Kim had been waiting and watching as Vu finished her round. “I kept on thinking we might go on a playoff, so I kept stretching,” she said. “I thought I would be very nervous, but I really wasn’t.”
Vu, who missed three months last year with a back injury that still troubles her, was pleased with her week, despite the playoff disappointment. “I’m proud that I kind of stuck to my goal, my weekly goal. The only goal is to be in tune with my body,” she said. “This is probably the most I’ve felt like me in the past year and a half.”
American Allisen Corpuz, the 2023 US Women’s Open champion, thrust herself into contention with a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 but had to settle for third on 267. World number two Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand was in the hunt, sharing the lead after her sixth birdie of the day on 13. But the birdies dried up and her six-under 66 left her alone in fourth on 268.
© 2024 AFP
