It only took the largest playoff in LPGA major championship history, but it was ultimately Japan’s Mao Saigo who secured not just her first LPGA major, but her first ever LPGA win on Sunday evening at The Chevron Championship.
Saigo played in the final group at the year’s first major tournament alongside Lindy Duncan and Haeran Ryu after holding the second 54-hole lead/co-lead of her LPGA Tour career overnight. It was an up-and-down day for pretty much every player in contention coming down the stretch at The Club at Carlton Woods, and Saigo eventually found herself in a five-way playoff at the end of regulation, despite posting a 2-over 74. The extra holes saw her face major champions Ariya Jutanugarn, Hyo Joo Kim, and Ruoning Yin, as well as LPGA Tour veteran Lindy Duncan, after all five athletes finished the week at 7-under.
While Duncan and Kim elected to lay up on their second shots on the first playoff hole, Saigo, Jutanugarn, and Yin went for the green in two on the par-5 18th. Saigo’s and Jutanugarn’s approaches both finished long, and each needed to take relief from the grandstands. Yin hit her second shot onto the green, 15 feet from the hole.
Duncan’s ball almost found the water short of the green on her third shot, and Kim’s third landed right next to Yin’s, leaving both Duncan and Kim needing to pull off something special to continue in extra holes.
After taking free TIO relief, Saigo chipped it tight, and Jutanugarn then hit her third to six feet, leaving both players with putts for birdie. Duncan failed to hole her fourth shot from the edge of the water hazard, so she was all but eliminated, given the other players had birdie and eagle opportunities. Yin then ran her eagle putt well past, leaving the People’s Republic of China native with a nerve-wracking six-footer for birdie.
After getting a read from Yin, Kim missed her birdie putt, and all focus then turned to Jutanugarn, Saigo, and Yin. With immense pressure on the two major champions, Yin and Jutanugarn both missed their birdie putts, leaving the door wide open for Saigo, who calmly rolled in her three-footer for birdie to claim her first career major victory.
“It was my dream to earn this major,” Saigo said. “It is my first time winning this tournament, and I was able to realise my dream. I’m very happy about this.”
Saigo is the third player from Japan to win a major championship over the last two seasons, joining Yuka Saso, who claimed the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club last June, and Ayaka Furue, who collected her first major title at The Amundi Evian Championship in France. Since 2019, five major championships have been won by Japanese athletes, and while Saigo isn’t entirely sure what has set her compatriots apart in the biggest tournaments in women’s golf, she is happy to now count herself among them.
“My predecessors have also earned majors, and I really thought I needed to catch up with them as much as possible,” Saigo said. “But instead of putting too much pressure on myself, I wanted to respect each process and move forward steadily. It’s true that my predecessors have paved the way for me, but I also wanted to be myself and play this golf tournament.”
Duncan, Jutanugarn, Kim, and Yin all tied for second at The Chevron Championship, a result they likely would have happily accepted had it been offered at the start of the week in The Woodlands, Texas. Having arguably the most experience in this type of major-championship situation, Jutanugarn was perhaps the most disappointed not to have found the LPGA Tour winner’s circle for the first time since 2021 on Sunday at The Club at Carlton Woods.
But she is taking solace in the fact that she gave herself a good chance of picking up a third major victory after starting the day three strokes behind the leaders at 6-under overall. “The front nine was very solid, especially with the eagle, but the back nine had a couple of mistakes on par 5s where I made two bogeys,” Jutanugarn said. “But I did really well for the rest of the tournament overall, and I’m very happy. It was beyond my expectations.”
Three players finished in a tie for sixth at 5-under for the tournament, including 2024 U.S. Solheim Cup Team member Sarah Schmelzel, 2023 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Haeran Ryu, and 2019 Chevron Championship winner Jin Young Ko. Four athletes tied for ninth at 4-under, and defending champion Nelly Korda finished in a tie for 14th at 2-under overall after starting with a 5-over 77 in the first round.
Leona Maguire’s week ended in disappointment as she made just the one birdie along with four bogeys for her third 75 of the week and a T67 finish at +8.
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