At the third LPGA major championship of the season, Minjee Lee clinched her third major title and eleventh career win by earning a three-shot victory at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
On what was a windy final day in Frisco, Texas, Lee started off at the top of the leaderboard, four shots ahead of Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul. Lee’s advantage grew to five after Thitikul bogeyed the first. She maintained her lead, even when she dropped a shot at the 3rd as Thitikul followed suit. But Lee bogeyed holes 5 and 6 to see her advantage cut down to three.
Closing out the front-nine, America’s Austin Kim soared up the leaderboard thanks to three straight birdies to find herself two strokes behind Lee. Thitikul then made her first birdie at the 9th to tie Kim. Playing some groups ahead, Wannasaen matched them at 1-under overall after an eagle at the par-4 15th. She maintained that with a bogey-birdie on holes 16 and 17, finishing with a final-round 68.
Wannasaen’s fellow countrywoman Thitikul all but ended her chase for the title when she bogeyed the 13th. Lee only just managed a nine-foot save for par but sunk back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th to pull ahead with a four-shot advantage. Despite a bogey just afterwards which cut Lee’s advantage down to three, her 4 under finish was enough to clinch the title, meaning the Australian is now only one more major away from achieving the coveted Career Grand Slam, what she has described as her ‘ultimate goal.’
“It feels pretty amazing,” Lee said afterwards. “I feel like I really deserve this one. I put a lot of hard work into it. I feel really good.”
This marks Lee’s first LPGA Tour victory since the 2023 BMW Ladies Championship and it’s one for the history books as she became the fourth Australian woman to hoist the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship trophy. She joins Jan Stephenson (1982), Karrie Webb (2001), and Hannah Green (2019).
“It’s pretty awesome. All of them are such great golfers, great careers. Obviously, Hannah is still on Tour with me, so it’s also great to have a friend who has won this trophy. I think it’s great to be able to have my name up with them. It’s pretty cool.”
Thitikul finished in a tie for fourth alongside Japan’s Chisato Iwai, two shots back from Wannasaen and Kim in joint-second.
What is the next event?
The next event on the LPGA Tour schedule is the Dow Championship taking place between 26-29 June at Midland, Michigan in the U.S.