Leona Maguire falls back in final round as Minjee Lee wins PGA Championship
Leona Maguire had to settle for a top-20 finish as Australia's Minjee Lee held her nerve to win her third major title by three shots at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.
Maguire started the day in a share of sixth place and while she enjoyed a steady start, and remained in contention with the leaders dropping shots, however, a bogey arrived on the eighth hole, and then the challenge ended early on the back nine.
A double-bogey for the Cavan native on the 12th was followed up by another on 13 and while she made birdie on 17, there was another dropped shot on the final hole, which resulted in a six-over tournament finish and a tie for 19th place, alongside world number one Nelly Korda.
Lee failed to replicate her stunning third-round score of 69 that had swept her into a four-stroke lead heading into the final day.
But her two-over tally of 74 was still enough to earn her a four-under total of 284 and see off the late-charging duo Chanettee Wannasaen and Auston Kim who both fired four-under 68s to earn them a share of second place.
After a bogey-free Saturday, Lee had three in the first six holes on Sunday to give her rivals hope, but back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th effectively secured her victory.
Japan's Chisato Iwai did enough to secure a share of fourth place with Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul, the early leader, who carded a three-over final round of 75 to finish five strokes adrift.
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Irish Examiner
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By the time Limerick's scoring blitz was over, they'd struck 1-9 without response, amassing in just 16 minutes what they'd managed for the previous 50 or so. Substitutes Rob Childs, who struck the goal that ignited their revival, Barry Coleman and Darragh Murray contributed 1-3 between them. "Basically at that stage all we wanted was to get on the ball, calm things down," said Limerick manager Jimmy Lee. "We knew there was more in them, and there was. They showed real leadership out there. It's well known, the cliches, that semi-finals are just there to be won and to be fair, those young lads out there showed real leadership and character. Hats off to them." By the time that Limerick whipped up their storm, James Naughton, who'd rifled 0-27 in his previous four games, and pretty much hasn't stopped scoring all season, was off the pitch with a knock. "That's it, you look at the injuries we had; Cormac Woulfe, Fiachra Cotter, Darragh O Siochru, you could keep listing them," said Lee. "But then, as I said, you have young lads that stepped up to the plate." Lee namechecked the more experienced players too. Iain Corbett is still there doing his thing at centre-back. Danny Neville, fresh off scoring 2-2 against Wexford last weekend, added another 1-2 and scored the first-half goal that left Limerick just about ahead at half-time, 1-7 to 0-9. Lee mentioned Paul Maher and Killian Ryan too. The impact of goalkeeper Josh Ryan was huge as well. He nailed two two-point frees in that late siege of scoring, the second of which was converted from all of 60 metres. "When Josh knocked over that two-pointer, we were home and hosed at that stage realistically, the clock was running down," said Lee. And yet it looked as if his opposite number, Mark Jackson, was going to be the hero. The former NFL hopeful has been kicking scores for fun throughout the competition and converted two single points from frees for Wicklow in the first-half. 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RTÉ News
10 hours ago
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Leona Maguire falls back in final round as Minjee Lee wins PGA Championship
Leona Maguire had to settle for a top-20 finish as Australia's Minjee Lee held her nerve to win her third major title by three shots at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Maguire started the day in a share of sixth place and while she enjoyed a steady start, and remained in contention with the leaders dropping shots, however, a bogey arrived on the eighth hole, and then the challenge ended early on the back nine. A double-bogey for the Cavan native on the 12th was followed up by another on 13 and while she made birdie on 17, there was another dropped shot on the final hole, which resulted in a six-over tournament finish and a tie for 19th place, alongside world number one Nelly Korda. Lee failed to replicate her stunning third-round score of 69 that had swept her into a four-stroke lead heading into the final day. But her two-over tally of 74 was still enough to earn her a four-under total of 284 and see off the late-charging duo Chanettee Wannasaen and Auston Kim who both fired four-under 68s to earn them a share of second place. After a bogey-free Saturday, Lee had three in the first six holes on Sunday to give her rivals hope, but back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th effectively secured her victory. Japan's Chisato Iwai did enough to secure a share of fourth place with Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul, the early leader, who carded a three-over final round of 75 to finish five strokes adrift.
RTÉ News
11 hours ago
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Tomás Ó Sé: Kerry's support cast need to step up for 'defining' clash with Armagh
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