Leona Maguire rounded off her NW Arkansas Championship on a positive note as she skipped around Pinnacle Country Club with a bogey free round of 66.
Maguire opened her account on the third hole before reeling off three successive birdies from the 9th and she added a fifth birdie on the par-5 14th to end the week in a share of 37th position on seven-under-par.
Jasmine Suwannapura earned her third career LPGA Tour victory after making an eagle on the second extra hole to win in a playoff over Lucy Li. The duo shot rounds of 61 and 60, respectively, on Sunday at Pinnacle Country Club to land in a tie for first place at 17-under.
Teeing off in the ninth-to-last group and beginning her day in a tie for 25th, Li started her record-breaking round with a birdie on No.1. She carded two bogeys in the next three holes after a pair of three-putts to drop two shots. But in her next seven holes, the 2023 rookie went on a tear, carding five birdies and an eagle on the par-4 8th hole to jump to 12-under par and take the lead. With seven holes remaining, Li made eagles on the last two par 5s (holes 14 and 18) and a birdie on No. 15 to break the 18-hole tournament scoring record and best her career-low 18-hole score by four shots.
“I started with a birdie, and then I was hitting it good. I had a couple of three-putts. Just wasn’t feeling it. I made a couple like 6-foot birdie putts, and that gave me some confidence,” said Li, whose previous career-best finish was a tie for fourth that came at the 2022 Dana Open and the 2024 LPGA Drive On Championship. “On eight, I hit the fairway and was behind the tree a little. It suited my eye perfectly. I hit a little draw with the 5-iron. That pin back there is really tough. I didn’t see it go in, but I heard a roar by the green. I holed out on nine yesterday for eagle, too. Just really crazy.”
In the group behind Li, Suwannapura started her day ready to make a charge and opened her final round with two birdies in the first two holes. She picked up one more birdie on the front nine on the par-3 6th hole to turn at 10-under overall and sit in a tie with Li. Suwannapura then picked up back-to-back birdies on Nos. 10 and 11, and Nos. 13 and 14 to get to 14-under. She made birdie on the 16th hole, and after watching Li in the group ahead make an eagle on 18, Suwannapura knew she would need to respond with the same to tie with Li. Suwannapura found the green in two and made her resulting eagle putt to post at 17-under, heading into scoring to wait and see if she would finish atop the leaderboard alongside Li.
“The crowd was pretty loud, and it was probably a 30-foot putt. I figured it was her (Li’s) eagle putt. All I think was I just have work to do. I have to do my own work. I have to finish it. I have to make the best out of it,” said Suwannapura about watching Li finish her final round. “The second shot wasn’t the easiest shot on my 18. I hit it to the right side. I got a free drop from the stand, like a little sign, and I actually slipped on that shot, and it went straight for the pin. I’m like, okay. So Fassi was like, let’s go. It was right at the pin. It’s straight at it. It was so good. She was just like, I think it was next to the pin. The TV guy said it’s about three feet. I’m like, awesome. Well, we walk up there and Fassi say, might as well do it, man. Just finish it. I did my best out there and made the putt.”
After the final groups completed play on Sunday, Li and Suwannapura headed to the 18th tee to start the first and second playoffs of their respective LPGA Tour careers. On the first extra hole, both players landed in the center of the fairway on the par 5 and hit their second shots onto the green for chances at eagle. Further away, Suwannapura went first, and her ball stopped just short of rolling into the cup, so she ultimately tapped in for birdie. About 20 feet away with a downhill right-to-left putt, Li missed her eagle try low of the hole, also cleaning up her birdie, and the pair then headed back up to the 18th tee.
On the second go-around, Li pulled her drive left in the rough, and Suwannapura again landed in the center of the fairway. Both players knocked their second shots towards the green, with Li’s approach sitting on the fringe, more than 50 feet away, and Suwannapura’s shot stopping 15 feet to the right of the flag. After Li’s third shot wound up short of the hole, Suwannapura dropped her right-to-left eagle putt in the center of the cup to claim her first LPGA Tour victory in five years.
“This week, I think my mindset was pretty solid. My mental was really good on this week,” said Suwannapura. “Literally it was hole by hole, shot by shot, and it’s actually filter out a lot of good and bad things out of my mind. I’m very focused to have that eagle putt with that situation. I said, you better finish it here, or it’s going to be a while, and I might not have another chance to putt for the win again. So, yeah. Just do it, and I made it.”
While the final result was a bit disappointing for the 21-year-old, Li couldn’t have been happier to have a shot at a title on Sunday afternoon in Arkansas. “It’s great to be in contention. Jasmine played so great. She eagled 18 and eagled it again in the playoff,” said Li, who was in her first playoff on the LPGA Tour. “I feel like I really couldn’t have done much. It’s always better to lose to someone winning than it is to lose, so I’m really happy for her, and I’m feeling good about the final stretch of the year.”
Finishing one shot behind Li and Suwannapura, Sei Young Kim came solo third after making a left-to-right 20-footer for eagle on the 18th. With rounds of 65 and 66 to finish in a tie for fourth, 2024 rookie Mao Saigo earned her sixth top-10 finish of her career, and Arpichaya (Piano) Yubol notched a top-five finish in her first appearance at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. Round-two leader Ashleigh Buhai shot a final-round 69 to finish in sixth place and record her best finish on Tour since her victory at the 2023 ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer.
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