Suzann Pettersen added yet another accolade, to what has been a brilliant season, winning the Evian Championship in France on Sunday, holding off the determined challenge of teenage amateur Lydia Ko.
The 32-year-old from Norway carded a final round of three-under 68 to win the inaugural fifth Major on the LPGA Tour, her fourth individual victory of the year to go with playing a leading part in Europe’s historic Solheim Cup victory in Colorado.
It was her second career major title adding to her first at the 2007 LPGA Championship, and she holds the hottest hand on the LPGA at the moment. Her win makes it back-to-back wins after she won the Safeway Classic two weeks ago in Portland, Oregon.
She has played seven times in the last eight weeks. Her last five LPGA starts now look like this: T-6, T-4, T-7, win, win. Definitely a brilliant season thus far for Pettersen and the year isn’t over.
With Thursday's play having been completely wiped out, it had been decided on Friday to cut the event to 54 holes.
It had been feared that more downpours would cause havoc on Sunday, although play started two hours late due to overnight rain, they managed to complete with no further delays. For Heather Daly-Donofrio senior vice-president of Tour Operations for the LPGA Tour, getting finished before dark was a real relief.
"It's a miracle we got done," she said.
The final round became a two woman race between Pettersen and Ko, who played alongside Japan’s Mika Miyazato who entered Sunday’s final round with a one-shot lead over Pettersen and Ko.
Ko was the first to strike, earning a share of the lead with Miyazato after she birdie the opening hole. But Pettersen would get into the action right on the next hole as she would make a birdie and make it a three-way tie for the lead.
But Ko would bogey the hole and drop out of the tie for the lead, one behind Pettersen and Miyazato. She would bounce back with a birdie and move back to eight-under, but Pettersen would add another birdie on the third hole to get to nine-under to regain sole possession of the lead now at nine-under.
Pettersen would fall back into a tie with Ko at eight-under after a bogey on the Par-5 seventh. But that tie would be short lived as she would regain the lead for good with a birdie on the Par-3 eight. She would never relinquish the lead again.
Ko was determined to challenge Pettersen but just couldn’t capitalize on some chances she had down the stretch.
Pettersen would get in apparent trouble on 15, 16 and 17 but was able to go birdie-par-par on those holes. Ko also birdie 15 and had makeable birdie chances on 16 and 17 but failed to gain ground on Pettersen.
On very dangerous closing hole 18, Pettersen found the middle of the fairway with her drive and then made it to the center of the green with a brave approach that pretty much sealed the deal for her. She would two-putt from there for the par and make official her win after Ko missed her chip from the fringe and failed to make a birdie that could put some pressure on her.
"It's great to win another major and this one has definitely been well worth waiting for," said Pettersen. "I was actually really nervous coming down the stretch and even nearly played up short at the 18th (a par four over water). But I said to my caddie I had to go for it and it worked out."
Pettersen’s final score was 10-under 203, two shots clear of Ko. She earned $487,500 for her efforts. Ko closed with a one-under 70 to finished at eight-under 205 and left on the table a sweet $297,994 due to her amateur status.
Ko, already a four-time winner professionally, still doesn’t let out a clue on when or whether she will join the paid ranks, but it was another astonishing performance and a brilliant display of her skills and poise. Just last month, she retained the Canadian Open.
"It has been a great week," she said. "I didn't take all my chances but Suzann played really well."
Miyazato quickly fell off contention after she had three bogeys on the first five holes and added a triple bogey on the Par-5 seventh to drop to two-under for the tournament at that point. She would make back-to-back birdies on nine and 10, but she could get to the clubhouse quick enough after scoring two more bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine.
Miyazato would card an eight-over 79 and finish T-19th at even-par 213 for the tournament.
American Lexi Thompson carded a three-under 68 and finished in solo third at six-under 207. South Korean’s Se Ri Park and So Yeon Ryu both shot even-par 71 and finished in a T-4th at five-under 208.
American Stacy Lewis, who started the day two shots off the lead in fourth place, got within one shot (eight-under) of Pettersen after her second birdie of the day on the Par-3 fifth, but a bogey on the sixth and a double bogey on the Par-3 eight dropped her to five-under and out of contention.
She closed with a two-over 73 for a total of four-under 209, good enough to finish in a three-way tie with fellow American Angela Stanford (69) and South Korean Chella Choi (72).
Rounding up the Top 10 were American Jennifer Johnson (70) Spain’s Beatriz Recari (72) who finished T-9th at three-under 210.
The World’s No. 1, South Korea’s Inbee Park, who was attempting to become the first player to win four major titles in the same year, finished T-67th eight-over 221.