Two front nine double-bogeys saw Stephanie Meadow endure a tough finish on her seasonal reappearance at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio, the first full-field event of the season.
The Jordanstown professional had entered the final day in a tie for 19th place and opened with a birdie on Sunday to move to six-under par.
However, that joy was short-lived as Meadow gave that shot back at the second before posting double-bogey sixes at the 5th and 7th to be out in 40.
Never one to give in, the Northern Irish woman ground out six pars on the way home before carding a revitalising birdie 4 at the 16th and capped her round with two pars to sign for a hard-fought three-over 75 for a share of 35th at two-under.
Stats-wise, she was near perfect off the tee on the longer obstacles having found 13 of 14 fairways but only 9 of 18 greens in reg. Still, Meadow took home a consolation cheque worth $10,874 for the result in an encouraging start to the new season.
At the head of affairs, Swede Madelene Sagstrom fired a two-under par 70 to complete a one shot win in her 69th career LPGA Tour start
Sagstrom is the 12th different player from Sweden to win on the LPGA Tour, and the first since Pernilla Lindberg won the 2018 ANA Inspiration
With the $300,000 first-place prize, she crosses the $1 million mark in official career earnings with $1,132,568 Sagstrom is in her fourth season on the LPGA Tour; prior to this event she had six career top-10 finishes with a career-best runner-up finish at the 2019 Pure Silk Championship
Full scoring HERE
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