Ko’s eagle in playoff wins Mediheal Championship

Lydia Ko hit a 3-wood to 3 feet for eagle to finish off Minjee Lee on the first hole of a playoff Sunday in the chilly LPGA Mediheal Championship in Daly City.

Ko won her 15th LPGA Tour title and first since July 2016, a 43-event stretch marked by changes in instructors, caddies and equipment and a large weight loss.

“My whole team and my family, they’ve worked really hard for this moment,” Ko said. “I’m happy that a few of them are here and we can celebrate together.”

Five days after turning 21, the New Zealander won for the third time at Lake Merced after taking the Swinging Skirts LPGA at the tree-lined layout in 2014 and 2015.

“It’s crazy because I was 3 over for the day at one stage and I said, ‘Hey, you’ve just got to focus and you never know what’s going to happen,”’ Ko said. “I was able to kind of put my game together on the back nine. When that putt dropped, I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ ”

Twenty yards behind Lee in the fairway on the par-5 18th in the playoff, Ko hit a 3-wood that cleared the tree limbs on the right, landed in front of the green and rolled inches by on the right side.

PGA Tour

HORSCHEL, PIERCY WIN TEAM EVENT >> Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy won the Zurich Classic team event, closing with a bogey-free 5-under 67 in alternateshot play.

Horschel became a twotime winner at TPC Louisiana. He captured his maiden PGA Tour triumph at the 2013 Zurich Classic when it was a traditional every-man-for-himself event.

Horschel and Piercy surged into the lead with birdies on the the 10th and 11th holes, and then they held off Jason Dufner and Pat Perez by a stroke.