Japan’s Mao Saigo earned a maiden major title at the Chevron Championship after she came out on top of the largest play-off in LPGA major championship history.
The 2024 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year shared the overnight lead with South Korea’s Haeran Ryu. But Sunday at The Club at Carlton Woods was no breezy event for anyone with the leaderboard consistently shifting in what was a closely fought event with a number of players in contention.
Saigo and Ryu struggled in the early stages of the final round with the former sinking three bogeys coming on to the back nine. Ryu fell back from the lead as bogeys of her own set her 4-over for the day by only the sixth hole. Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn climbed up the leaderboard with a birdie and an eagle on the 5th, powering through the round to push herself in contention with Saigo. She birdied the 8th, but sunk a bogey at the 10th to briefly set her positive streak adrift.
LPGA Tour veteran Lindy Duncan also produced a final round charge with birdies at the 13th and 14th to share the lead with Jutanugarn. She fell back with a bogey at the 15th but eventually finished in a tie at the summit at 7-under.
Walking to the 18th, Saigo and China’s Ruoning Yin still had hopes of winning, just two shots back from Jutanugarn. Yin needed an eagle to win outright, but had to settle for a birdie after her long putt drifted left and she also finished at 7-under to join Duncan and Kim. Saigo birdied the 18th, and despite posting a 2-over 74 for the round, finished 7-under overall to join them. For Jutanugarn, a third LPGA major title seemed the likeliest outcome. But she faltered with her final chip shot, failing to find the green. Once she did, she was unable to make par and carded a 71 to finish 7-under after her third bogey of the round leaving five players tied at the top of the leaderboard.
They all returned to the 18th for the five-way sudden death play-off which remarkably saw only Saigo manage a birdie to secure victory at the LPGA Tour’s first major of the year. Duncan fell off first whilst the rest missed their birdie attempts.
Saigo now joins Yuka Saso and Ayaka Furue as the third Japanese player to win a major championship over the past two seasons.
“My predecessors have also earned majors, and I really thought I needed to catch up with them as much as possible,” the freshly-minted Major-winner said. “But instead of applying too much pressure on myself, I wanted to respect each process and move forward steadily. It’s true that my predecessors have paved the way for me, but I also wanted to be myself and play this golf tournament.”
Despite her near miss, Jutanugarn was pleased with her T2 finish and her overall performance in the final round. “The front nine was very solid especially with the eagle, but back nine just couple mistakes on par 5s that I made two bogeys,” said the Thai player. “But I did really well for the rest of the tournament overall, and I’m very happy. Just beyond my expectation.”
South Korea’s Jin Young Ko and Haeran Ryu, as well as USA’s Sarah Schmelzel all tied for 6th at 5 under while defending champion and World No. 1 Nelly Korda finished at 2 under in a tie for 14th with Australia’s Minjee Lee, China’s Weiwei Zhang, and the semi-retired Lexi Thompson.
What is the next event?
The next event on the LPGA Tour schedule is the Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion taking place between 1-4 May at Ivins, Utah in the U.S.