Thailand’s Suwannapura forced a play-off with an eagle on her 72nd hole on Sunday. Then, after a stalemate on the first play-off hole, she calmly sank an eagle putt after American Li had already come up short on her third shot.
“Everything fell into place, you know, right place, right time,” Suwannapura said after claiming her third LPGA title.
Li equalled two LPGA marks on Sunday as she shot an 11-under-par 60, matching the low final round for a tournament this year, while she also tied an LPGA record with three eagles in a single round.
“That was crazy,” Li said.
“60 is the lowest round I’ve ever shot. With two three-putts, if you told me on the fourth hole I was going to shoot 60, I would’ve thought you were out of your mind.”
Li’s long eagle putt on the par-5 18th took her to 17-under 196, giving the 21-year-old second-year pro an inside track on her first career win, following two top-10 finishes earlier this season.
But stepping up to 18 down two strokes, Suwannapura made an eagle of her own – her first of the day – to force the playoff with a 10-under 61.
Sei Young Kim of South Korea finished alone in third place at 16 under with a final-round 63.
Grace Kim was the leading Australian, tied for 12th and six shots outside the play-off after a closing 66 followed by Robyn Choi (69, tied 27th at eight under), Steph Kyriacou (70, tied 37th, seven under) and Gabriela Ruffels (70, tied 44th, six under).
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