Kim Hyo-joo tops Vu in playoff to win LPGA Ford Championship / Photo: Mike Mulholland - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
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Kim Hyo-joo tops Vu in playoff to win LPGA Ford Championship
South Korea's Kim Hyo-joo rolled in a six-foot birdie putt at the first playoff hole to win the LPGA Ford Championship on Sunday ahead of American Lilia Vu.
Kim had nine birdies in her eight-under-par 64, the lowest round of the day at the Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, Arizona, taking her to a 22-under total of 266.
Overnight leader Vu carded a four-under-par 68, but when they returned to the par-four 18th for the playoff Kim put her second shot six feet from the pin while Vu left herself more than 15 feet.
The American's birdie attempt came up short and Kim rolled in her birdie effort to claim her seventh LPGA victory, and her first since 2023.
"It has been a while since the last win," she said. "I worked hard in the winter time and it's a surprise that it came so quickly, the win.
"The feeling was great today," said Kim, who needed just 24 putts. "I just thought one birdie at a time."
Having started the day four shots off Vu's lead, Kim had seven birdies in the first 11 holes to seize the solo lead on 21-under.
However, she found the water off the tee at 12 on the way to a bogey, missing a short par save attempt.
Kim then drained a birdie putt from off the green at 16 and added another birdie at 17 to land in the clubhouse with a one-stroke lead.
But Vu got up and down for birdie from a greenside bunker at the 17th to regain a share of the lead, blasting out of the sand to about a foot.
Vu, who had a long wait before for the green to clear before she hit her second shot at 17 had another long, tense wait on the 18th tee as Nanna Koerstz Madsen searched for her ball in the desert scrub.
But after her second shot bounded through the green Vu, a two-time major winner and former world number one, chipped to about six feet and rolled in the par putt to force the playoff.
American Allisen Corpuz, the 2023 US Women's Open champion, thrust herself into contention with a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 but settled for third on 267.
World number two Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand was in the hunt, sharing the lead after her sixth birdie of the day on 13. But the birdies dried up and her six-under 66 left her alone in fourth on 268.
Y.Simon--JdB
