Lydia Ko overturned a two-shot deficit with a 9-under 63 to win her third LPGA Tour title of the season on the Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship.
Ko has gained three of her final 4 tournaments, together with a gold medal on the 2024 Paris Olympics, amassed sufficient factors for the LPGA Corridor of Fame and gained the St. Andrew’s Ladies’s Open.
“It is so surreal,” Gao mentioned after beating Jeeno Thitikul, who shot a 70, by 5 strokes at TPC River Bend.
New Zealand’s Ko celebrates victory (AP Photograph/Carolyn Kaster)
After eight holes within the remaining spherical, Titicul led by two strokes. She bogeyed the par-4 ninth. Gao made a 10-foot birdie putt on the tenth gap to tie for the lead, after which made a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 eleventh gap to take the lead.
Ko took over after a birdie, and Titiku had bogeys on the thirteenth and fifteenth holes.
Titicul two-putted for birdie on the par-5 remaining gap to not less than take second place alone, one shot forward of Haeran Ryu (67).
“It is like loopy — it is loopy. Her putter was on fireplace immediately,” Titicourt mentioned of taking part in with Ko. “I seemed as much as her as a sister to me, a legend and a task mannequin to me. On the identical tee, on the identical inexperienced, on the identical tee, on the identical inexperienced, It was like being in a VIP seat, watching her in entrance of my eyes, it was such a terrific expertise.
Nelly Korda, the No. 1 participant in girls’s golf who nonetheless leads the sector with six wins at this yr’s CME Globe, shot a 68 and tied for fifth, 9 pictures behind.
Ko had his lowest spherical of the week at TPC River’s Bend.
“With the ability to win in a spherical like that is very particular,” she mentioned.
Gao will journey to South Korea subsequent week to compete within the Asiana Monetary Group Championship. This might be her likelihood to realize 30 profession titles worldwide.
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