Korda wins LPGA opener in playoff
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Jessica Korda closed with a 5-under 66 and holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole Sunday to beat Danielle Kang in the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions to start the LPGA Tour season.
Korda won for the sixth time on the LPGA Tour, and it was her first victory in nearly three years. She shot a career-best 60 on Saturday.
Kang started the final round at Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club Orlando with a two-shot lead, which she quickly stretched to four shots with an opening birdie and Korda dropping a shot on the third hole. That was Korda’s last mistake.
Kang had a two-shot lead with four holes to play when she made her first bogey of the tournament — and her first bogey in 65 holes dating to last season — on the 15th. Korda caught her with a birdie on the 16th.
Nelly Korda, the younger sister of Jessica who joined them in the final group, got within two shots of the lead. She closed with a 64, two shots out of the playoff.
Kang, who shot 68, had to make a 4-foot par putt on the par-3 18th to force a playoff at 24-under 260.
Going back to the 18th for the playoff, Kang appeared to have an advantage with a tee shot pin-high about 18 feet to the right. Korda was 30 feet short, roughly the same putt she had in regulation. This time, she read the speed perfectly and rolled it in. Kang’s birdie putt to extend the playoff was low all the way. In other golf news:
• Englishman Tyrrell Hatton shot a 6-under par in the final round on to win the season-opening Abu Dhabi Championship by four strokes after overnight leader Rory McIlroy faded with an even-par 72 to drop into third.
Hatton carded a closing 66 to finish 18 under par and secure a sixth European Tour title.
Australia’s Jason Scrivener was second at 14 under.
• Si Woo Kim birdied two of the final three holes to finish at 8-under 64, rallying past late-charging Patrick Cantlay by one shot to win The American Express at La Quinta, Calif., for his third PGA Tour victory.
The 25-year-old South Korean didn’t flinch when Cantlay shot a 61 and surged out of 13th place to the front while breaking the Stadium Course record by two strokes.
Playing six groups behind Cantlay, Kim comfortably birdied the par-5 16th to pull even. Kim then buried a 19-foot birdie putt on the island green on the 17th to take the lead.
Australia’s Cameron Davis shot a 64 to finish in a career-best third at 20 under.