
Somi Lee and Jin Hee Im win Dow Championship team event in playoff
Lee an d Hee Im won at the first hole of their a playoff over Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang
The teams replayed the par-3 18th to begin the play off. Thompson got her team closer than Lee off the tee, but Im rolled in an 8-foot birdie putt and Khang missed her team's 5-footer to the left.
Lee and Im birdied the 17th hole and parred the 18th to tie Khang and Thompson at 20-under-par 260 and force the playoff. Khang and Thompson fired a 10-under 60 earlier in the day, and Lee and Im posted a 62.
Maguire and Kupcho, were never able to recover from a disappointing third round and although they eventually signed for final round of 68, they finished well down the field.
The final round deployed a four-ball (best ball) format before the playoff was played in alternate shot (foursomes).
It marked the first LPGA win for both Lee and Im, and Im said she might not have been able to notch her first victory without her playing partner.
"I think we're best team ever," Im said. "Hopefully, we coming back next year."
"We are last year rookie season, but (the LPGA is) so tough LPGA," Lee added. "But we are together win and I'm now happy so much."
Thompson, who retired from full-time LPGA competition after last season, was on the precipice of her first victory since 2019. She fell to 0-6 in LPGA Tour playoffs.
"Megan played some amazing golf this week. I pulled together some good golf today," Thompson said. "It's just great to be alongside her. We have a lot of laughs and in between shots we are relaxed and have a good time."
Tied for third at 18 under were the teams of Lindy Duncan and China's Miranda Wang (59) and Belgium's Manon De Roey and France's Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (64).
Sarah Schmelzel and Switzerland's Albane Valenzuela, who began the day in the lead, managed only a 66 and dropped into fifth at 17 under.

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RTÉ News
a day ago
- RTÉ News
Leona Maguire ready to chase history at Women's Irish Open
Leona Maguire is somewhere between Texas and Michigan when the call comes through from RTÉ Sport. It's the Monday after the KPMG Women's PGA Championship and it's been road and air ever since, the life of a professional athlete. There's another big leg to come yet after a stop off at the Dow Championship and that's across the Atlantic Ocean and back to Irish soil as the headline act at the 2025 KPMG Women's Irish Open, which takes place this week at Carton House and will be shown live on RTÉ. It'll be a reinvigorated Maguire that tackles the course after her top-20 finish in Texas, where MinJee Lee tamed a ferocious course, winning by three strokes at a tournament that saw only three players finish par or better. The Cavan golfer finished with a 76 to fall to six-over par overall, but it was good enough for her first top-20 finish at a major since the same event two years previously. The fact that it came on the back of four missed cuts in succession suggests it came out of nowhere, but the player herself was always tranquil about her form and knew it was a matter of 'when' not 'if.' "It was a very positive week," she told RTÉ Sport. "It was a tough golf course, it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit here and it was very windy – the windiest conditions we've played in in a long time. Combine that with a difficult course set up and it really made for a challenge. "It was kind of nice, you expect a challenge at majors. The KPMG PGA has become a challenging event and we were all expecting that and it was nice to put four good rounds together at this time of the year." "I definitely felt that my game was trending in the right direction," she added. "I played really well at the Meijer at Grand Rapids the week before. "Golf is a funny game, sometimes all it takes is a little thing to click and away you go." The thousands streaming through the gates of Carton House will be hoping that it has clicked completely as Ireland chases its first winner in the event. Since the competition's return in 2022 after a nine-year absence, Maguire has been Ireland's best finisher on all three occasions – T4, T14 and T15. Understandably, a win on home soil sits extremely high up on her golfing to-do list. She'll have the likes of Madelene Sagstrom, Charley Hull, Anna Nordqvist, Georgia Hall and defending champion Annabel Dimmock to contend with on the O'Meara Course, but she is hopeful that history will be made at what's set to be another record-breaking event. "I think it's testament to the investment KPMG have put into the event over the last number of years. "Since it came back at Dromoland a couple of years ago (2022) the tournament has really elevated and built year-on-year. "We have increased numbers of spectators and obviously the increase in the number of top quality players coming over. Anna Nordqvist, Charley Hull, they're a little bit taken aback when they see the number of Irish fans that come out. "Even this week I've had a few friends taking pictures beside Luas signs of me and it's a bit surreal at times. It's one of the pinnacle events and one of the premier events on the Ladies European Tour." Irish golf is especially strong right now – as will be demonstrated by the large home contingent taking part this week – and while Maguire is doing her thing Stateside, six players are currently in competition on the Ladies European Tour. One of those, Carton House's touring professional Lauren Walsh, sits just outside the top 10 in the LET Order of Merit in just her second season with a pro card. Maguire doesn't usually go too far without twin sister Lisa, the pair playing their first Irish Open together in 2009, and said that having so many familiar faces on the European circuit is a real tonic for the difficult stretches of life on the road. "There's more pros out there and more girls on tour than there ever was. "It's great for the girls when they're travelling week-on-week that they have each other. "Historically, the Spanish and French have had lots of buddies out there and it definitely shortens the road a little bit. "So many Irish players (16 in all) are are set to play next week and it's great to give the younger girls that exposure." "The travel is the big component to professional golf," added Maguire, who feels this year's earlier date will help with the goal of breaking last year's 37,000 attendance figure. "You probably don't have it on the amateur side, well definitely not as much. You finish up one place on Sunday night and you're either on a plane straight away or maybe Monday morning. "It's a lot easier when things go to plan, it gets a bit trickier when things don't." With another major awaiting at the Evian Championship next weekend, that trip to France will be made all the more easier if Maguire's Irish dream has been achieved.

The 42
a day ago
- The 42
Maguire and Kupcho fail to fire as Im and Lee win LPGA team event
SOUTH KOREANS IM Jin-hee and Lee So-mi birdied the first playoff hole to beat Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang in the LPGA Dow Championship pairs event in Michigan on Sunday. Lee rolled in the winning birdie putt, she and Im both able to celebrate a first LPGA title after Khang was unable to get the US duo's birdie putt to drop. Khang and Thompson — an 11-time LPGA winner who is playing a limited schedule this year — climbed to the top of the leaderboard at Midland Golf Club with a 10-under-par 60, combining for 10 birdies in a best-ball format to build a four-round total of 20-under 260. Thompson's seven-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole gave the Americans a one-shot clubhouse lead. But Lee drilled a birdie putt at the 17th that pulled the South Koreans level and after a birdie attempt by Im at 18 burned the edge they signed for an eight-under 62 and headed back to 18 for the playoff, which reverted to the alternate-shot format in which the first and third rounds were played. Advertisement Thompson's tee shot gave the Americans the best look at birdie, but Im drilled her putt to put the pressure on Khang who missed from short range. American Lindy Duncan and China's Miranda Wang combined for 11 birdies in an 11-under 59 to climb 13 places into a tie for third on 18-under 262. They were joined by Belgium's Manon De Roey and France's Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, who had seven birdies and a bogey in their 64. Overnight leaders Sarah Schmelzel and Albane Valenzuela endured a frustrating day. They had four birdies in the first 11 holes but couldn't find another, their four-under 66 leaving them alone in fifth on 263. Leona Maguire and Jennifer Kupcho, who held the 36-hole lead, couldn't sustain a Sunday challenge as they carded a two-under par 68 to finish seven shots back. – © AFP 2025


Irish Independent
a day ago
- Irish Independent
No joy for Leona Maguire as Koreans Im and Lee win Dow Championship
The Irish Goodbyes closed with a two-under 68 in the final round fourballs to finish tied for 18th on three-under. American duo Megan Khang and Lexi Thompson closed with a 60 to set the target at 20 under, but lost in a foursomes format playoff to Koreans Jin Hee Im and Somi Lee. Lee made an eight-foot birdie putt at the first extra hole before Khang missed from five feet to extend the playoff. Im and Lee, who closed with a 62, are in their second year on the LPGA Tour. It was their first title in America, though both were prolific winners on the Korea LPGA, with Im winning six titles to Lee's five. There was also a maiden win in the US for Aldrich Potgeiter, who at 20 years, 9 months and 16 days became the youngest South African to win on the PGA Tour. The former Amateur Championship winner won the Rocket Classic when he beat Max Greyserman on the fifth extra hole at Detroit Golf Club after Chris Kirk had been eliminated from the playoff with a bogey at the second tie hole. A birdie from 18 feet on the par-three 15th clinched it for Potgieter. Kirk missed a nine-footer to win on the first tie hole but dropped out of the playoff after missing a four footer for par at the second. Potgieter was two strokes ahead entering the final round and closed with a three-under 69 to tie on 22 under with Greyserman and Kirk, who both shot 67. 'It was definitely a tough day,' Potgieter said. 'The start didn't go my way, I struggled to make putts, left a lot short. 'Finally got one to the hole, and I just saw the ball roll end over end, and I knew it was going to go in.'