Jessica Korda’s victory march looked a bit shaky for a while on Sunday but a birdie run over the final nine holes left no doubt as to the winner of the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Korda notched her fifth victory despite some nerves creeping in early in her round at the Siam County Club.
“I can’t believe it, today was such a blur, I was just trying to make birdies. I tried to relax, but I was nervous,” said Korda. “This (Honda LPGA Thailand) was my first event my rookie year. I played really, really well this week.”
The nerves showed as she only came up with two birdies on the front and a bogey at the eighth hole saw her lead cut to two at the turn. With Lexi Thompson and Moriya Jutanugarn threatening, Korda came to life with birdies at 11, 13 then the short, 279-yard par four 15th. That got her to 24-under and she closed the door with a 20-footer for birdie at the 17th.
Thompson put up a fantastic run, she had eight birdies and her clean card added up to 64. She had a chance to jump to No. 1 this week but she needed a solo second and Shashan Feng had to finish worse than fifth. Moriya Jutanugarn drove the green at the 15th then holed a 10-foot eagle putt and birdied the 18th to tie Thompson at 21-under. Feng turned things up a notch, shot 66 and finished in a tie or fifth at 17-under par. Thompson will probably jump to the No. 2 spot when the new Rolex Rankings come out this week.
It was a good week for American players. Brittany Lincicome shot 16-under and tied for seventh. Michelle Wie closed with 69 and her 14-under total got her a tie for 11th. Megan Kang finished 14-under and took solo 12th. Nelly Korda and Austin Ernst finished T14.
