Hyoo Joo Kim looked like she was cruising toward a second Evian Championship Sunday in rainy France.
The 2014 champion seemingly had things under control through 13 holes. She was 15-under par and playing well.
Then golf disaster struck.
Kim’s tee shot on the par three 14th buried in the front wall of a large bunker just short of the green. Her first attempt at the near-impossible lie didn’t turn out well. The ball came back at her and landed in one of her own deep foot-prints from the first bunker shot.
Her third barely got out but was 25 feet from the hole, on the fringe of the green. Her bogey putt went four feet past the hole and she’d miss the attempt for five. She walked off the green with a triple-bogey six, her hopes for a second major dashed.
In stepped world’s No. 2, and former No. 1 Jin-Young Ko. Ko took over from there and her closing 67 earned her a second major championship at age 24. It was her fifth LPGA victory. She finished two ahead of American rookie Jennifer Kupcho, Shanshan Feng and Kim.
The win will put Ko back as world’s No. 1 when the new Rolex rankings come out this week.
Ko said she was very comfortable with the final pairing that put her in with Kim and former world’s No. 1 Sung Hyun Park.
“They are my friends, Hyo Joo and Sung Hyun,” Ko said about her final round pairing. “So I thought last night I can do. If play really good I can win. So I will try to focus on my game. I never saw other players shots or scores. It’s good to me, so I got the win.”
Kupcho’s finish will go a long way toward her keeping her playing privileges and could get a spot on the Solheim Cup team.
“It’s crazy,” said Kupcho, whose closing 66 was the day’s best round. “I definitely played really well this week, and it’s exciting to see that I can compete where my game is right now. Excited for the rest of the season.”
