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Jennifer Kupcho got off to a rocky start Sunday at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, but the 25-year-old rallied to clinch her second career title after a thrilling playoff against defending champion Nelly Korda and Ireland’s Leona Maguire. . By returning a card of 71 (-1) in the last round of the Meijer LPGA Classic.
Kupcho double-bogeyed the 3rd and bogeyed the 6th to drop to (-14) three shots behind Korda, but quickly recovered with an eagle on the par-5 8th and a birdie on the 9th to get back to (-17). ) a step forward. Korda set the record straight with a birdie on the 10th, and both players birdied the 12th to finish at (-18). But Maguire was not left out of the conversation. He birdied back-to-back on the 13th and 14th to move to (-17), a point below the leader at the time, posting a final birdie on the last hole to return to command of the Meijer LPGA Classic at 18-under. by.
#LPGAWinnerSelfie with @titler true To The Golf Ball, @jenniferkupcho!
jennifer won @meijerlpga with your Titleist Pro V1! 👏 #TeamTitleist pic.twitter.com/21Gedi2mta
— LPGA (@LPGA) June 20, 2022
When the bar was set, Kupcho bogeyed the 16th and Korda birdied the 18th to level Maguire and force a three-man playoff. Things seemed to be over when Kupcho hit his second shot from 1 yard out with an 8-iron on the first hole of the playoffs, but missed his eagle putt. After three putts from Korda, Kupcho and Maguire headed back to the tee, and ultimately it was a minor mistake by Maguire that gave Kupcho his second career LPGA Tour win, as well as the $375,000 prize pool. that accompanies it.
“I thought I was going to be successful”Kucho said. “When she hit close to the hole and I still had to putt off the edge, I thought I couldn’t win because I was shaking and had missed a putt the same length. But once I tapped, she was already looking at the official rules for moving on to the next hole. Honestly, it was just a shock. She went to Duke, I went to Wake Forest. I played with her so much that she never misses her putts. She was really in shock.”
This victory at the Meijer LPGA Classic comes two and a half months after Kupcho earned his first win at the Rolex Chevron Championship earlier this year, but this victory packs a bit of a different punch, especially on Father’s Day.
“I think this one is even better than the first one personally”Kucho said. “I had such a head start going into the last round at Chevron, so coming out of that round with top-tier players everywhere, the ranks were packed, in a couple shots, so it was very tight, and I’m very proud. of myself for getting out of it. I told myself this morning that I have to call (my father), but I said to myself: “No, we will call him after the round with the trophy in hand” and I am happy that I can do it now. »
Play off! Korda, Kupcho and Maguire. It has a bit of a Solheim vibe. pic.twitter.com/H7VkiZ57GQ
—Beth Ann Nichols (@GolfweekNichols) June 19, 2022
Although the triple putt on the first playoff hole was painful, Nelly Korda took many positives from her week at Blythefield Country Club. Spending time away from golf has allowed the Rolex Ranking No. to slip away this season.
“I fought to get back to the last nine holes and sneaked into the playoffs”said Korda, who gets his third top 5 of the season. “Unfortunately, sometimes you have it and sometimes you don’t. If you had told me three or four months ago, when I was in the ER, that I would be here, I would have been extremely happy. »
Lydia Ko, No. 4 in the Rolex Rankings, rode a 4-under 68 streak on Sunday to finish solo fourth at (-17), with a quartet of players tied for fifth at the Meijer LPGA Classic with 16. under par. including LPGA Tour rookie Atthaya Thitikul and 2015 Meijer LPGA Classic champion Lexi Thompson. Brooke Henderson, an 11-time LPGA Tour winner, and Wei-Ling Hsu round out the top 10 at 15 under par.
Céline Boutier, meanwhile, finished long before the last few games by completing the course of Blythefield Country Club in (-1). The native of Clamart is 40th at -8, ten strokes from the play-off, a result without much brilliance that makes her lose a place in the Race to the CME Globe (12th). However, with the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship coming up on Thursday at the Congressional Country Club (Maryland) and featuring Perrine Delacour, Pauline Roussin-Bouchard and Agathe Laisné, the French No. 1 will be able to rely on the four cards under the pair made consecutively in this preparatory tournament for the 3rd Major of the year.
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