MAINEVILLE, Ohio — Lydia Ko extended her amazing run and surged to a 30th professional victory when she turned a two-shot deficit into a rout by closing with a 9-under 63 to win the Kroger Queen City Championship for her third LPGA Tour title of the season.
The Kiwi won for the third time in her last four starts, which includes her Olympic gold medal that gave the 27-year-old from New Zealand enough points for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
It also includes another major in the Women’s British Open, this one at St. Andrews. “It’s been pretty surreal,” Ko said according to AP after her five-shot victory at the TPC River’s Bend over Jeeno Thitikul.
Thitikul was two shots ahead after eight holes of the final round. Three holes later, the Thai was chasing the hottest player in women’s golf.
Thitikul made bogey on the par-4 ninth. Ko made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole to tie for the lead, and then pulled ahead by two shots with a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 11th.
Ko seized control for good with a pair of two-shot swings – she made birdie and Thitikul made bogey on the 13th and 15th holes.
Thitikul two-putted for birdie on the par-5 closing hole to at least finish alone in second, one shot ahead of Haeran Ryu (67).
“It’s just like insane – it’s super insane. Her putter was on fire today,” Thitikul said of playing alongside Ko. “I respect her as like my older sister, as a legend, and also as my role model. It was such a really good experience watching her in my eyes on the same tee box, on the same greens, just like VIP seat.”
Nelly Korda, the No. 1 player in women’s golf who still has a comfortable lead in the Race to CME Globe with her six victories this year, had a 68 and tied for fifth, nine shots behind.
Ko, who finished at 23-under 265, now has 22 career LPGA victories. It was the fifth time she has at least three wins in the same season on the LPGA, her biggest year coming with five wins when she was 18 and reached No. 1 in the world.
Ko also won the season opener in Florida in January, but there were times early in the summer when she wondered if she would ever get the final victory needed for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
She took care of that with Olympic gold in Paris, won at St. Andrews for her third major and, after a three-week break, picked up as though nothing had changed.
“I had the most unbelievable three weeks in Europe. And now after having another three weeks off here, not entirely sure what it´s going to be like,” Ko said.
She was two shots behind Thitikul going into the final round and was expecting Thitikul to keep going strong. The Thai did, but she fell back with bogeys on the ninth, 13th and 15th holes and Ko was on her way to another victory.
Ko had the low round of the week at the TPC River’s Bend, which was used this year while Kenwood Country Club goes through some course improvements.
“To have a round like this to cap off a win is pretty special,” she said.
Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert, meanwhile, delivered clutch putts late in the championship round to lead Australia-based Ripper to its first team title in the LIV Golf League.
Herbert, who looked as though he might have cost his team with a double bogey and a bogey on two of the par 5s at Maridoe Golf Club, responded with four birdies over his last five holes, the final putt a 12-footer for birdie for a 69.
Smith hit a 60-yard pitch to 12 feet and holed the birdie putt on the 17th to give Ripper the lead for good, and then drilled his tee shot down the middle on the 18th that effectively sealed the win. He shot 68. Matt Jones birdied two of his last three holes following a double bogey. He had a 70, along with Marc Leishman.
Ripper finished at 11-under 277, three shots ahead of 4Aces and Iron Heads.
“To have those three other guys today trying to get the job done, something was telling me we were going to be all right,” Smith said.
It was tight toward the end. The final round featured stroke play in which the scores counted from all four players on the four leading teams. Ripper and Iron Heads were tied for the lead with only a few holes to play until Ripper came up with the clutch putts.
Johnson then drove into the water on the 18th, effectively ending his team’s chances of a second team title. Johnson and Reed each shot 69.
Iron Heads was the big surprise, having finished last in the regular season. It knocked out the Smash team led by Brooks Koepka and the defending champion Crushers led by Bryon DeChambeau.
Tied for the lead late, Jinichiro Kozuma bogeyed his final hole and Kevin Na had to scramble for par on the par-5 17th. They both shot 69.
Legion XIII again was missing its captain, Jon Rahm, who couldn’t play because of the flu. John Catlin replaced him and shot 70. Tyrrell Hatton had a 68 but didn’t get much help from the rest of the team that was in its first year.
Ripper won $14 million, with each player getting $1.4 million and the rest going to the team management.
