Ko wins year’s first LPGA major
Lydia Ko took advantage of Ariya Jutanugarn’s late collapse Sunday to win the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage for her second straight major victory and second LPGA Tour win in a row.
The top- ranked Ko hit an 88- yard wedge shot to within a foot of the hole on the parf ive 18th to set up her winning birdie — and an unlikely leap into Poppie’s Pond. She closed with a three- underpar 69 to finish at 12 under.
“This is an unbelievable moment,” Ko said before taking the traditional victory plunge into the pond near the 18th green at Mission Hills Country Club.
Jutanugarn had a twostroke lead at 13 under with three holes to play. The 20year- old from Thailand bogeyed all three holes, threeputting the par- four 16th, failing to get up and down from a bunker on the parthree 17th and hooking her drive into the water on 18.
Charley Hull and In Gee Chun f inished a stroke behind Ko, and Jutanugarn ended up fourth at 10 under.
Ko won the f inal major last season, the Evian Championship in September in France, and took the LPGA Tour event last week in Carlsbad. The 18- year- old New Zealander has 12 LPGA Tour victories.
Ko had a bogey- free round, making three key par saves on the back nine, the first with a 15- foot putt after crisscrossing the par- f ive 11th. She ran in an 18- footer on the par- four 13th, and a 10footer on 17.
Ko also holed a 22- foot birdie putt on the par- three f ifth and a 40- footer on the par- three eighth.
Jutanugarn made four birdies in a f ive- hole stretch in the middle of the round to move into position for a breakthrough victory, only to have it slip away. She f inished with a 71.
Hull birdied the 18th for a 69, and Chun also closed with a birdie for a 70. Chun was making her first start after sitting out a month because of a back injury. Herman earns Masters invitation
Jim Herman closed with a four- under 68 to win the Shell Houston Open for his f irst PGA Tour victory, and earn his first trip to the Masters.
Herman chipped in for birdie on the par- three 16th hole to take the lead. He finished with two solid pars and beat Henrik Stenson by one shot.
The Houston Open was the f inal opportunity for players to get into the Masters. Herman was No. 191 in the world ranking.
The 37- year- old used to work in the pro shop at one of Donald Trump’s golf courses when the front- runner for the Republican presidential nomination encouraged him to give the PGA Tour one more try and helped support him f inancially. Herman still wears the logo of a Trump golf club on his shirt.
The victory also gets Herman into the PGA Championship for the first time. Champions
Miguel Angel Jimenez shot an eight- under 64 to win the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic by two strokes at Saucier, Miss.
Jimenez started the day in third place, three shots behind leader Scott Dunlap. But the 52- year- old from Spain took control on the tournament’s f inal day thanks to a bogey- free round that included four straight birdies from Nos. 10 to 13.
The decisive run on the back nine started when Jimenez made a 55- foot putt from the fringe of the 10th green.
It is Jimenez’s third victory on the PGA Tour Champions in just 10 starts dating back to 2014. He was 14 under for the tournament at Fallen Oak.
Dunlap couldn’t keep up with Jimenez, but finished in second place after shooting 69. Tom Pernice Jr., Jeff Maggert and Jerry Smith were five shots behind Jimenez to finish in a tie for third.
Jimenez’s 64 was the lowest f inal round in tournament history.