Kyriacou eventually signed for a 1-under 71 and 4-under tournament total to share eighth, two shots in front of Minjee Lee who was tied 13th, with the pair well back of first time major winner Japan’s Miyu Yamashita on 11-under.
Having flushed her drive off the first tee, Kyriacou pulled her second shot with the strongest winds of the week helping it on its way out of bounds and an eventual triple bogey when she was hoping for a hot start.
“The first hole was quite rough. It’s not ideal when you hit your second ball OB, onto the beach,” she said with a laugh.
“I stuck in there, showed some grit, and finished 1-under today. I’m very happy.”
There was another dropped shot at the third before the 24-year-old was involved in her second hole-in-one of this week after making an ace of her own on Friday.
Nearly repeating the feat at the par-3 fifth on Sunday, her ball ended inches from the pin before being unintentionally used by playing partner, and Ford Women’s NSW Open winner, Mimi Rhodes to achieve an ace of her own.
“I am,” Kyriacou joked when asked if she creates luck for everyone on the course.
“We actually just watched the video, and it hit my ball, and it went in. So I’m kind of claiming it, even though Mimi is probably not going to say that.”
Tapping in for birdie, Kyriacou reached the par-5 ninth in two with a brilliant fairway wood from the left rough and converted for birdie, before making another at the 13th and finally escaping Royal Porthcawl’s difficult closing stretch unscathed.
Par at the 16th came via another fairway wood, which was in use again to find the 17th green and a birdie. A feat she couldn’t repeat at the 18th after enlisting the crowd to move a fence to allow Kyriacou to hit her third shot.
“I hit the 16th green, which helps when you have a 5-wood in hand. I birdied 17, which is nice. I didn’t birdie 18, which sucks, but I’ll take the birdie on 17,” Kyriacou said.
“I got something out of my day. I’m really proud with how I showed up for the rest of the day.”
The Sydneysider, who made the cut in four of five majors in 2025, happy to trump Lee and the other members of the Australian contingent.
“It’s pretty good. There’s nothing wrong with friendly competition, but I haven’t got the win just yet. So when I do that, I’ll be a little bit more arrogant, I think,” she joked of leading the Australians.
It was also a slow start for Lee, who bogeyed the first one group ahead of Kyriacou, before immediately getting the shot back at the next.
Hitting fairways and greens on the front nine, Lee could only convert one more birdie at the uphill par-5 sixth to make the turn in a tidy 1-under.
Again, a bogey at the 11th was offset by birdie at 13 before a double bogey on the downhill 14th put a halt to claims for a third major top 10 this year.
“I feel like that’s probably the worst score I could have had today. I felt like I was going pretty well and then just kind of made a silly mistake on 14. It was kind of one of those weeks where I was kind of in the middle, like I wasn’t really amazing at one thing or another,” Lee said.
“I’m not complaining that I’m going to finish 13th or 14th, but yeah, I would have liked to be in the top 10.”
Having stopped to talk to young girl off the back of the 17th green about the soft serve ice cream she was enjoying, and admitting later she was craving one herself, Lee put together a clinical birdie at the last for a 2-under tournament total.
“I knew I was like too far back to obviously win. I really wanted to get into the top 10. Sometimes they don’t drop, especially around links, and in the wind I think it’s even more unpredictable.
“I felt like I have some things that I can work on coming off today and this whole week.”
The 29-year-old West Australian giving herself good marks for the major year as she turns her focus to the season long Race to CME Globe points list having secured the 2025 Rolex ANNIKA Major Award for a second time, becoming the first multiple time winner.
“I’m going to say I’ve done pretty well. Maybe like an 8 ½ (out of 10),” Lee rated her major performance.”
Rounding out the Australians, Grace Kim ended a tough weekend, and Sunday playing in the day’s toughest conditions, with a birdie at the last to finish on 12-over, while Kiwi Lydia Ko’s title defence yielded a share of 36th.
Australasian Scores
T8 Steph Kyriacou, -4
T13 Minjee Lee, -2
T36 Lydia Ko, +3
T67 Grace Kim, +12
MC Gabi Ruffels, +3
MC Amelia Garvey, +3
MC Hira Naveed, +5
MC Momoka Kobori, +7
MC Cassie Porter, +8
MC Karis Davidson, +9
MC Hannah Green, +12
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