100th time in top 10
While a win remains elusive, Lydia Ko is a model of consistency on the LPGA tour
It really was very close and I feel very proud of myself for coming out of it.
Jennifer Kupcho
It wasn’t a victory but Lydia Ko reached a career milestone with another top 10 finish on the LPGA Tour yesterday. The world number four shot a final round four-under 68 but missed out on a playoff by one shot at the Meijer Open in Michigan.
Ko finished fourth at 17-under with Americans Nelly Korda, Jennifer Kupcho and Ireland’s Leona Maguire playing off for the title.
It is the 100th time Ko has finished in the top 10 on the LPGA Tour, 17 of those have been victories.
It has been a decade of consistency for Ko who first made the world take notice as a 15-year-old amateur with her maiden LPGA victory at the Canadian Open in 2012.
Yesterday’s effort was Ko’s sixth top 10 of the season and third in a row, putting her in good form ahead of the Women’s PGA Championship next week, the third major of the year.
After missing a 60cm eagle putt on the first hole of the playoff, Kupcho won the Classic when Leona Maguire’s 1m birdie try lipped out on the second extra hole.
Kupcho had closed with a 1-under 71 to match playing partner Nelly
Korda and Maguire at 18-under 270 at Blythefield Country Club. Kupcho birdied both playoff holes.
Maguire finished with a 65 and birdied the first extra hole before missing the short putt on the second.
“I thought she was going to make it,” Kupcho said. “When she hit it by the hole and I still had to putt from the fringe I thought to myself, that’s not a gimme because I was just shaking and missed essentially a same-length putt.”
Korda, the winner last year, had a 72 after taking a one-stroke lead over Kupcho into the final round. Korda dropped out of the playoff with a three-putt par on first extra trip down the par-5 18th.
Maguire got new life when Kupcho’s 60cm slid by the left side.
“I missed the putt,” Kupcho said. “I almost missed the putt in regulation, the same putt.
“That comes with a lot of nerves and a lot of shaking.”
Kupcho won for the second time on the LPGA Tour, following her major victory in early April at Mission Hills in the California desert.
“I think this one is even better than the first, personally,” Kupcho said. “I had such a big lead going into the final round at Chevron, so to come out of this one with top-ranked players all over the place. The leaderboard was packed, within strokes, so it really was very close and I feel very proud of myself for coming out of it.”
Meanwhile, Matt Fitzpatrick of England is a champion again at The Country Club, this time with the grandest of trophies.
A US Amateur champion in 2013, Fitzpatrick became the US Open champion yesterday.
In a three-way battle at Brookline that came down to the wire, Fitzpatrick seized control with a great break and an even better shot on the 15th hole for a two-shot swing. He was even more clutch from a fairway bunker on the 18th that set up par for a 2-under 68.
Victory was not secure until Will Zalatoris, who showed amazing fightback from every mistake, dropped to his knees when his 4m birdie putt on the 18th just slid by the left side of the cup. Zalatoris was a runner-up in the second straight major.
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler never recovered from backto-back bogeys to start the back nine. He had a 7m birdie chance on the 18th that just missed and left him one behind.
Fitzpatrick is the second man to win a US Amateur and US Open on the same course, joining Jack Nicklaus who turned the trick at Pebble Beach. Juli Inkster won the US Women’s Amateur and US Women’s Open at Prairie Dunes.
Along with the US$3.15 million in prize money, Fitzpatrick had that gold Jack Nicklaus medal draped around his neck.
Fitzpatrick won for the eighth time worldwide, and this was his first in America — at least at a tournament everyone knows about.
Fitzpatrick said he won the member-member at The Bear’s Club in Florida at the start of the year, the course Nicklaus built.
“He gave me a bit of abuse at the start of the year. He said, ‘Finally. Congratulations for winning in the States,”’ Fitzpatrick said.
And then slightly lifting the trophy, Fitzpatrick sent a fun message to Nicklaus: “Jack, I won a second time.”
— NZ Herald, AP