Jutanugarn wins Open in playoff
In some of the bleakest moments during Ariya Jutanugarn’s back-nine collapse at the U.S. Women’s Open on Sunday, the 22-year-old from Thailand would take a deep breath, smile to herself and think happy thoughts.
Mind tricks weren’t working, but she didn’t stop trying.
Finally, after an excruciating few hours of golf, the positive vibes came true.
Jutanugarn lost a seven-shot lead on the back nine before prevailing on the fourth hole of a playoff to win at Shoal Creek near Birmingham, Ala., for her second major championship.
She hit a nearly perfect bunker shot to within a foot of the cup on the tournament-clinching hole, beating South Korea’s Hyo-Joo Kim, who shot a 5under-par 67 in the final round to force the playoff.
It was not an easy up-anddown for Jutanugarn, who said she didn’t have a particularly good lie in the sand. Somehow, she kept her cool.
“I felt pretty good,” Jutanugarn said about her mood before the shot. “I don’t know why.”
She felt even better when the ball rolled close enough for an easy putt. A collapse that would have gone down in U.S. Women’s Open lore was about to be averted.
Jutanugarn started the day with a four-shot lead over Australia’s Sarah Jane Smith. It looked like Jutanugarn might win easily after opening with a 4-under on the front nine to stretch her lead to seven shots.
But a triple bogey on No. 10 cut the lead to four and rocked her confidence, especially with her 3-wood. She still had a twoshot lead with two holes remaining, but closed with back-toback bogeys to fall into a playoff after shooting 73.
As Jutanugarn was fading, Kim was rolling. The 22-yearold made putt after putt to put pressure on Jutanugarn, including a 50-footer on 15 that moved her one shot off the lead. Like everyone else, she was shocked she was in contention.
She couldn’t quite complete the comeback, which would have been the biggest in the final round in U.S. Open history.
Jutanugarn and Kim shot 11-under 277 in regulation. PGA Tour: Bryson DeChambeau finally made it easy on himself the third time playing the 18th hole at the Muirfield Village on Sunday, rolling in a 12-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to beat Cal alum Byeong Hun An and win the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio.
DeChambeau, who is from Modesto, shot 1-under 71 to get into the playoff at 15-under 273. Kyle Stanley joined DeChambeau and An in the playoff.
Patrick Cantlay was leading by two shots going to the back nine, but didn’t make a birdie over his last 10 holes, shot 71 and finished fourth.
European Tour: Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark sank a 10foot putt on the final hole for a 7-under 64 to win the Italian Open in Brescia and avoid a playoff with Francesco Molinari. Olesen finished at 22-under 262, one stroke ahead of the Italian for his fifth European Tour victory and first Rolex Series win.