Knight, Szokol hold on to win LPGA Tour’s lone team event
Former Lobo Ewart Shadoff ties for third
MIDLAND, Mich. — Cheyenne Knight and Elizabeth Szokol held off Matilda Castren and Kelly Tan by a stroke Saturday to win the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, the LPGA Tour’s lone team event.
Knight and Szokol closed with a 5-under 65 in better-ball play at Midland Country Club. They finished at 23 under, following a better-ball 61 in the second round Thursday with an alternate-shot 62 on Saturday to take a three-stroke lead into the final round.
Castren and Tan shot a 63. They also finished second last year.
The 26-year-old Knight also won the 2019 Ascendant LPGA, while Szokol took her first LPGA Tour title. The U.S. duo tied for fourth last year after missing the cut in 2021.
Play was delayed for 1 hour, 40 minutes because of lightning with the leaders on the 13th hole.
The teams of Celine Boutier-Yuka Saso (62), Jodi Ewart Shadoff-Emma Talley (63) and Celine Borge-Polly Mack (63) tied for third at 20 under. Ewart Shadoff is a former University of New Mexico golfer.
Stacy Lewis and Maria Fassi had a 63 to finish sixth at 19 under. BARRACUDA CHAMPIONSHIP:
In Truckee, Calif., Patrick Rodgers scored eight points to take the third-round lead in the Barracuda Championship at Tahoe Mountain Club.
Co-sanctioned by the European tour, the tournament uses the Modified Stableford scoring system. Five points are awarded for eagle and two for birdie, while a point is deducted for bogey and three for double bogey.
“I’m loving the way that I’m driving it,” Rodgers said. “I’m giving myself tons of opportunities to score. A lot of birdie and eagle looks. In this format I’m going to have to do the same tomorrow.”
Winless on the PGA Tour, the 31-year-old Rodgers rebounded from a double bogey on the par-4 10th with an eagle on the par-5 12th and birdies on the par-4 16th and 18th on the par-71 Old Greenwood layout.
“It was a day of resilience, for sure,” Rodgers said. “I shot myself in the foot more than once today, especially in this format. I missed a couple of really tiny putts on the front nine . ... Then made a double on 10.”
Second-rounder leader Ryan Gerard was a point back after a three-point round. The 23-year-old former North Carolina player has special temporary membership on the PGA Tour.
GIRLS’ JUNIORS: At Air Force Academy, Colo., Kiara Romero won the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, outlasting Rianne Malixi 1-up in the 36-final at the U.S. Air Force Academy Eisenhower Golf Club.
The 17-year-old Romero, from San Jose, California, took the lead with a par on the 31st — the 121-yard 13th hole on the Blue Course — and halved the final five holes with pars.
An incoming freshman at Oregon, Romero earned spots in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania and the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Both finalists are exempt next month in the U.S. Women’s Amateur in Los Angeles.
The 16-year-old Malixi was trying to become the second player from the Philippines to win the event, following Princes Mary Superal in 2014.