Wins have not come easy for American women this year on the LPGA Tour.
There have only been two and Jessica Korda did her best to make it three on Sunday in China but she came up a shot short in her head-to-head duel with Minjee Lee.
The two were tied at 11-under par through 54-holes but Lee went out and built a three-shot lead on the front nine at Hainan Island with a pair of birdies that got her to 13-under par. A bogey by Korda at the seventh dropped her back to 10-under.
From there, Lee rattled off seven straight pars. Korda battled back with birdies at the 11th and 14th to pull within one. Both players then bogeyed the 17th and birdied 18 and in the end it was Lee 70, Korda 71.
Lee finished 13-under, just a shot better than Korda and two in front of Ariya Jutanugarn, who finished solo third at 11-under par after shooting 70. Scoring did not come easy on Sunday as none of the top five broke 70.
“I knew that it was going to be a good fight today,” Lee said of her head-to-head with Korda. “It was a good fight and I fought to the end. I’m very happy right now.”
