Minjee Lee wins the Amundi Evian Championship

Day 4 of the Amundi Evian Championship was spectacular in major championship history.
 
The start of the final round was a bizarre one because the overnight leader Jeongeun Lee6 lost her huge five-stroke lead in just nine holes after Jeonguen gave away five bogeys in front nine while, second-placed Yealimi Noh was sharing the lead with Jeonguen following a 32 in front nine.
 
During this time another player scored 32 in front nine, she reached the third place from round three’s T5, she was Minjee Lee.
 
On hole 13, Yealimi became the sole leader of the tournament at -16, one stroke ahead of Jeongeun who was at -15.
 
After being birdie-less for four holes, Minjee started her march towards the win by scoring three consecutive birdies (14, 15, 16) in back nine, finished the round by scoring another birdie on the par-4 18^th to end the day at 64 for an overall score of 18 under 266.
 
Jeonguen who was trying to find her rhythm back finally made a comeback in the dying holes of the match by scoring three consecutive birdies in 16, 17, 18 to force playoffs.
 
In between all this, our 67-hole leader Yealimi needed a birdie on the final hole (18) for a possible three-way playoff but she missed the birdie putt, settled for par in the final hole for an overall score of -17.
 
Minjee Lee won the playoffs by scoring a birdie on the 18^th extra hole to win her first-ever major championship in professional golf.
 
Final leaderboard of top three:

Connect to us: dhruv@dktsports.com

Lydia Ko chasing an unlikely third career major at Amundi Evian Championship

The Amundi Evian Championship is the last LPGA event before the Tokyo Olympics. Lydia Ko who won silver in the previous Rio Olympics is playing in the year’s fourth major in France.
 
At the beginning of the event, Lydia was ranked outside the top ten (T11) for scoring 68 on Thursday as the tournament progressed Lydia improved her score thus, she got a 65 on Friday to jump T4.
 
Like day 1, Lydia again got 68 on day 3 to move inside the top 3 at third position. Her overall score after 54 holes is 12 under 201 while, Jeonguen Lee6 (leader) is at -18, six strokes ahead of Lydia.
 
For Lydia, it is an up-heal task to win on Sunday because according to golf.com, the longest comeback in Evian Championship history was one less than the gap between Lydia, Jeonguen i.e., of five strokes where Anna Nordqvist reduced a five-stroke deficit to win the 2017 Evian Championship.
 
Lydia has always had a stronghold in the event because the first time she played in the Amundi Evian Championship was in 2013, she finished runner-up in her first attempt as a low-amateur at age 13. Two years later, she won her first-ever major championship at the Amundi Evian Championship in 2015. Another major victory came in 2016 ANA Inspiration.
 
From 2012-2018, Lydia won 15-times in the LPGA Tour, during this time she made four consecutive cuts in the Amundi Evian Championship from the time she made her debut in the event (2013) to 2018.
 
In the following year, Lydia missed her first-ever cut in the Amundi Evian Championship where she failed to go into the weekend after getting scores of 78, 73 in the 2019 Evian Championship.
 
After that Lydia got a slump in her career – a wrist injury which made her miss multiple cuts in majors and regular events.
 
In April 2021, Lydia won her first LPGA event after more than 1000 days when she won the 2021 Lotte Championship i.e., her 16^th LPGA victory.
 
Since, then Lydia is having a great 2021 where the 24-year-old has managed to get 8 consecutive cuts (including one in the ongoing Amundi Evian Championship), two top-tens. Her only missed cut came the event after Lotte Championship i.e., Hugel Air-Premier Open. (Please note- these stats are after her 2021 Lotte Championship victory).
 
Lydia Ko’s results in Amundi Evian Championship:

Jeongeun Lee6 leads on day 3 of Amundi Evian Championship

In the three days of the Amundi Evian Championship, three golfers are contending to win this major championship. The three golfers are Pajaree Anannarukarn, Yealimi Noh, Jeonguen Lee6.

Pajaree, Yealimi were sharing the lead on day 1 at -6 whereas Jeongeun was one stroke behind the leaders at -5 for T3. On day 2, Jeongeun got a brilliant score of 61 to move -15, become the sole leader and three clear Pajaree who reached double figures (-13) through back-to-back rounds of 65 for T2 position, Yealimi added three strokes to her scorecard by scoring 68 in round two to move -9 for T4 position.
 
On day 3, Jeongeun scored 68 to move -18 now, this time Yealimi got the best score from the three i.e., 67 to move solo second at -13. Pajaree who was ranked T2 on Friday slipped two place down to T4 for scoring one over par on Saturday, her overall score is -11, two less than Yealimi.
 
Jeongeun knows what it takes to win a major championship in golf because she herself is a major winner, her only major championship victory came in the 2019 US Women’s Open which is also her only LPGA victory.
 
Leaderboard of selected players after 54 holes:

Connect to us: dhruv@dktsports.com