Miyu Yamashita earned a third career LPGA title by getting the better of Lottie Woad in a play-off to win the Meijer LPGA Classic.
The 24-year-old from Japan began the final round at Blythefield Country Club five shots behind overnight leader Jing Yan of China but charged up the leaderboard on the front nine with five birdies in her first seven holes. The birdies continued at the 10th, 11th, and 13th but Woad, who began the day four shots ahead of Yamashita, looked to have repelled her surge as she found herself with a two-shot advantage heading into the last, chasing a second LPGA Tour title of the season. Yamashita, who played in the group ahead, birdied the 18th to close with an 8-under 64 and set the clubhouse target at 17 under meaning Woad needed a par or better to seal victory. However, Woad could only four-putt the last which saw her fall back into a share of the lead, resulting in a play-off.
The duo returned to the 18th for the play-off which saw Yamashita set up a closer birdie chance with her third shot. Woad failed to hole her birdie putt, which opened the door for Yamashita who converted from short range to cement victory, adding to her two successes last year including a maiden major triumph at the AIG Women’s Open.
“It had like a score gap with the top” to begin the day, Yamashita said via a translator. “But this week I had really good feeling, so I’m really happy to win.”
While for Woad it was an agonising near miss as she was denied a third LPGA Tour title in just her second year on the circuit.
“I would always go for it in two, but kind of wishing I didn’t now,” Woad said regarding the 18th. ” Next time I think I should have laid up and tried to chip on, but been going for it every day, so I thought might as well.
“Got a pretty bad lie in the rough and hit an okay shot. Wish I’d got the first putt a little closer and wish I putted first too – watching Cassie’s [Porter] putt tricked me.
“Felt like I hit an okay putt – obviously lipped out on the high side. Miyu played great in the play-off.”
Chinese Taipei’s Wei-Ling Hsu and China’s Yan Liu both fired final-round 67s to secure a share of third on 15 under par while South Korea’s Minji Kang and Australia’s Cassie Porter shared fifth a shot further back on 14 under.
What is the next event?
The next event on the LPGA Tour schedule is the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship taking place between 25-28 June at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota.