American Lexi Thompson carded the day’s low round of four-under 68 and earned her first major victory at the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship by three shots over fellow American Michelle Wie.
Also, at just 19 years, 1 month and 27 days of age, Thompson became the second youngest female player to ever win a major tournament. This becomes her fourth career win and her third on her last 12 starts.
Thompson started the day tied for the lead with Wie at 10-under and went to work right away with her natural aggressive style and birdied the opening hole. Wie didn’t back down from the challenge and birdied the second to jump right back to tie Thompson at 11-under.
But she gave that shot back with a bogey on the next hole, the Par-4 third. Thompson would continue her aggressive play and was able to get her approach shots close in the fourth and fifth, making the best of it by getting back-to-back birdies.
This gave her a three shot cushion at 13-under. Wie would fall one shot further after she missed right with her two-foot par-putt on the Par-3 eight.
Thompson would open a five-shot lead when she made her fourth birdie on the front nine at the Par-5 ninth. She would make the turn with a 32 at 14-under, as Wie and Se Ri Pak would be her nearest pursuers at nine-under.
Even when her big lead, Thompson continued going for her shots and never let down the pressure. Although Thompson would not make another birdie the rest of the day, she got several chances to add to her lead on the back nine and closed her round bogey-free.
Wie cut the lead to four with a birdie at the Par-5 11th. She had a chance to cut it down to three at the Par-4 13th, but left short by a foot what was just a five-foot putt for birdie. She never gave it a chance in what looked like a nervous putt effort.
Nonetheless, Wie would bounce right back on the Par-3 14th. She got a great read from Thompson’s putt and hit sank her birdie-putt from 15-feet away pulling within three.
Wie was not able to get close and put pressure on Thompson, sealing her fate with a bogey on the Par-3 17th hole. She did close the tournament in style when she birdied the closing hole from 15 feet away.
Thompson’s bogey-free four-under 68 gave her a total of 14-under for 274 for the tournament. She also got the $300,000 check that goes to the winner and took her dive into Poppy’s Pond with her caddy getting extra points for his flip.
Wie finished at 11-under 277 and earned $187,584 for her solo second-place efforts. She has finished in the Top 20 in all six starts this year and this was her third Top 10 finish.
American Stacy Lewis shot a three-under 69 where she had many missed chances to get lower. She finished in solo third at seven-under 281 earning $136,079. This was her sixth Top 10 and third Top 3 finish in seven starts this year.
American Cristie Kerr and South Korean Se Ri Pak finished tied for fourth at six-under 282. Kerr stringed nine straight pars before her first birdie at the Par-4 10th to get to seven-under. But she got back-to-back bogeys on the 12th and 13th dropping to five-under. She would close with a birdie for her six-under total.
Pak started the day tied with England’s Charley Hull at eight-under two shots from the leaders. She was able to get to 10-under after her second birdie of the day at the Par-4 sixth. But a bogey on the Par-3 eight set her back and she would never recover. She closed with a 74 on Sunday.
Opening round leader, China’s Shanshan Feng, finished in solo sixth after recording her second straight even-par round of 72. Hull would drop out of contention after her double-bogey and bogey on the eighth and ninth hole took her to five-under.
After carding the lowest round on Saturday, she would fire a 76 on Sunday and finished in a tie for seventh at four-under with American Angela Stanford and Spain’s Azahara Muñoz who both shot 72.
South Korea’s Amy Yang shot a one-over 73 and finish in solo 10th place.
The defending champion and World’s No. 1 player, Inbee Park, never was a factor in the tournament. She closed with a 75 for a total of four-over in solo 38th place.
Other notable player’s finishes: Karrie Webb (73) T11 at two-under; Anna Nordqvist (73) T16 at one-under; Lydia Ko (74) T29 at two-over; Paula Creamer (71) T34 at three-over; So Yeon Ryu (77) T46 at six-over.
On the Amateur side, the world’s Top Amateur, Australian Minjee Lee (72) finished T24 at even-par and edged Canadian Brooke Henderson (74) who finished T26 at one-over. Henderson bogeyed the 17th when she missed a short par-putt and missed a makeable birdie putt on the 18th that would have tied her with Lee.
The action on the LPGA continues this next weekend with the LPGA Lotte Championship presented by J Golf Info from the Ko Olina Golf Club in Kapolei, Oahu, Hawaii.