The final day on TPC River’s Bend at the Kroger Queen City Championship provided the stage for a masterclass from back-to-back champion Lydia Ko. Coming off the back of her Women’s Open win at St. Andrews and an Olympic Gold medal, the New Zealander outclassed the field on Sunday to win by five from overnight leader Jeeno Thitikul. Leona Maguire bounced back from a tough Saturday to go around two-under for her day.
Maguire recovered some of her early tournament mojo on the final day with a 70 to finish off her week. Starting her day on the back-nine she was quickly into her stride with a birdie on her second, the par-5 11th. One more came on the fifteenth to see her turn blemish free on two under, and nudging her way up the order.
Again, Maguire was strong off the tee, having only missed six fairways all week. Her only dropped shot of the round came on the par-four third but she cancelled that out with a quick response on the sixth. A run of three pars home saw the Cavan native round off a solid week on six-under and tied for 45th. She will now decamp to Arkansas with a quick turnaround as the LPGA season hits the home stretch.
Thitikul began the day leading by two and was able to keep in touch with the 22-time champion, Ko, through the front nine, holding her two shot lead through eight. This was where Ko showed her class with imperious iron play on the back nine keeping the pressure on Thitikul. Ko’s approach-play forced errors from the Thai 21-year-old as she birdied, or indeed eagled holes that Jeeno would par or bogey. Ko on the other hand, carded just a single bogey for her week in Ohio, and had nine one-putts through thirteen as she went about dismantling the back nine.
Try as Thitikul might, Ko kept her foot on the accelerator and in the end, it was a comfortable win as she would head to the 18th tee with a five-stroke cushion. The two-time Race to CME Global champion topped off her day with birdie at the last to finish up on -23 after the round of the week of nine under [63]. Thitikul matched her birdie on the last to clinch solo second on -18, one clear of Ryu in third. Yaku Saso claimed fourth after a 65 of her own while Nelly Korda and Hyo Joon Yang round off the top five on -14.
“It’s been pretty surreal,” said Ko on the 18th green. “I had the most unbelievable three weeks in Europe, and after having another three weeks off, you’re not entirely sure what it’s going to be like. I started off this event really strong, playing well the first couple of days. “I hung in there yesterday, and I said I know that Jeeno and a lot of the other girls aren’t going to play bad golf, so I just got to try and play even better golf. To have a round like this to cap off a win is pretty special.”
“It’s super insane. (Lydia’s) putter was on fire today. She made it everywhere that she have a chance,” said Thitikul. “I respect her as like my older sister, as a legend, and also as my role model. It was such a really good experience watching her in my eyes on the same tee box, on the same greens.
Next up the Tour’s attention shifts to Rogers, Arkansas for three days of action starting on the 27th at the NW Arkansas Challenge. After a charging final day in Ohio, Korea’s Haeran Ryu will pitch up next week as defending champion. And she will head there in bullish form after a fine performance this week. Thitikul, too is a past champion in Arkansas [‘22] and will battle it out with Ryu, but Ko jets off to Korea for a KLPGA event so there will be no repeat of today’s final three-ball.
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