Leona Maguire found her touch on the greens to shoot a four-under-par 67 and secure a major-top 10 as Grace Kim won the Evian Championship, beating Jeeno Thitikul in a play-off.
After a cold putter stalled Maguire’s challenge on Saturday, the flatstick heated up on Sunday as the Cavan native mixed seven birdies and three bogeys in a round, which saw her climb into seventh place and finish out a solid performance.
At the business end of things, it was a storybook finish against a fairytale backdrop for Grace Kim in a victory that felt scripted by the golf gods as she teed up in the penultimate group alongside Somi Lee and Jeeno Thitikul.
With Thitikul and amateur Lottie Woad, who won the KPMG Women’s Irish Open last week, trading blows as the year’s fourth major began to wind down, Kim came to the final hole at Evian Resort Golf Club needing something magic. She was sitting at 12-under after picking up a pair of back-to-back birdies on holes 15 and 16 and parring 17, and she needed an eagle to have a shot at a playoff with Thitikul, who was at 14-under after a birdie on 17, and she did just that.
Finding the fairway off the tee and then smoking a 4-hybrid to a mere foot before tapping in for an eagle to match Thitikul, who parred the last to also post a final-round 67 and finish at 14-under, the pair ended up in a playoff.
The first extra hole saw Kim go for the green in two and spray her second shot, an approach that found the water feature well to the right of the 18th green. Thitikul also played aggressively and hit her second shot a bit long, leaving herself a solid opportunity to get up and down for birdie and ultimately win her first major title, tipping the scales in her favour a bit.
However, few could predict what would happen next. Kim took a drop from the penalty area, and upon playing her fourth, she pitched in for the most unlikely of birdies, a shot that elicited a raucous roar from the fans surrounding the 18th green at Evian Resort Golf Club. After things quieted down, Thitikul then chipped up and buried her resulting 10-foot birdie try with the iciest of veins, sending the two back to the 18th tee for a second playoff hole.
This time, Kim executed the second shot she was trying to hit in regulation after having to back off her approach because of a distraction, hitting it to roughly 20 feet for eagle. Thitikul’s second shot again went a bit long, leaving her a bit of an odd stance on the downslope of the greenside bunker. Her third shot was made even more difficult by some ants that were swarming her ball, insects from which she wasn’t able to take free relief, but Thitikul still managed to chip it to roughly six feet and leave herself a birdie opportunity to keep the playoff going.
Because Thitikul had to ask for a ruling, Kim had to wait a bit before putting, something that could have let the nerves start to rear their ugly heads. But Kim and her caddie, Drew Ernst, calmly read her eagle putt and Kim struck it confidently, bringing her hand to her mouth in disbelief when her ball fell right in the heart to make the 24-year-old a first-time major winner.
“I couldn’t breathe, Tom,” said Kim to NBC Golf’s Tom Abbott. “I couldn’t really see. I was like, ‘Is it dead straight?’ ‘Yeah.’ I’m hitting the putt. Glad it went in the hole.”
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