Kim wins Marathon Classic; 2nd 2-time LPGA winner this year
SYLVANIA, Ohio — In-Kyung Kim rallied to win the Marathon Classic on Sunday to become the second two-time winner this season on the LPGA Tour.
Two strokes behind 18-year-old Nelly Korda entering the round, Kim birdied six of the first nine holes and finished with an 8-under
63 for a four-stroke victory over Lexi Thompson.
“It’s golf. I really didn’t expect anything,” Kim said. “Maybe, I think, that’s why I played really well today. Really good names are on top of the leaderboard, and I just wanted to go out and make the most out of it, and today I was able to do that.”
Kim also won the ShopRite LPGA Classic in June in New Jersey. The six-time LPGA Tour winner joined fellow South Korean player So Yeon Ryu as the only multiple winners this season.
After playing the front nine in
6-under 28, the 29-year-old Kim and added birdies on Nos. 15 and
16. She finished at 21-under 263 at Highland Meadows.
In the 2010 event, she lost to Na Yeon Choi in a playoff.
“I always liked the golf course,” Kim said. “I had a playoff before and I just have great memory.” Thompson closed with a 66. “Overall, I’m very happy with the way I played,” Thompson said. “I was hitting a cut around the golf course, and that’s usually not what I do. But I managed to put up some good scores.”
Gerina Piller, still looking for her first LPGA Tour victory after leading after each of the first two rounds, had a 68 to tie for third at
15 under with Peiyun Chien (68). “I didn’t come away with the win, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t have a winning performance,” Piller said. “I’m looking forward to taking the week off and heading over to the British.”
Sung Hyun Park, coming off a victory last week in the U.S. Women’s Open in New Jersey, tied for sixth at 13 under after a 70.
Barbasol Championship
OPELIKA, Ala. — Rookie Grayson Murray won the Barbasol Championship on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title, holing a 5-foot par putt on the final hole for a onestroke victory.
Murray closed with a 3-under 68 to edge Chad Collins on Grand National’s Lake Course. The 23-year-old former Wake Forest and Arizona State player set up the winning par with a nearly 50-foot putt from below the hole. He finished at
21-under 263.
Collins closed with a 68 two days after posting one of the tournament’s two rounds of 60. A tap-in for par on No. 18 left him waiting to see if Murray would stumble.
Brian Gay had a 65 to tie for third at 19 under with third-round leader Scott Stallings (71) and Tag Ridings (69). Stallings shot 60 on Saturday.
Amateur Sam Burns of LSU tied for sixth at 18 under after a 66.