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Washington Post
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Chisato Iwai wins Mexico Riviera Maya Open by 6 shots for first LPGA title
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Chisato Iwai took a tournament up for grabs and turned it into her own highlight show Sunday, making five birdies in her opening six holes for a 6-under 66 and a six-shot victory in the Mexico Riviera Maya Open for her first LPGA title. Iwai led from the opening hole at El Camaleon when she made birdie and Jenny Bae made bogey, and the 22-year-old from Japan was on her way.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Japan's Iwai wins Mexico crown for first LPGA title
Japan's Chisato Iwai birdied five of the first six holes to seize command on her way to winning the Mexico Riviera Maya Open on Sunday for her first LPGA title. The 22-year-old from Saitama fired a final-round six-under par 66 to finish 72 holes on 12-under 276 at Mayakoba resort. She matched the biggest LPGA victory margin this year in defeating runner-up Jenny Bae by six strokes with South Korea's Kang Hae-ji third on 283. "I'm so happy," Iwai said. "My mentality was so calm every time. It was just calm, good play." Iwai became the third LPGA winner of the season from Japan, after Rio Takeda won the Blue Bell in China in March and Mao Saigo took the Chevron Championship last month, and the 20th Japanese player overall to win an LPGA crown. Iwai, who won her eighth Japan Tour event in March, earned her LPGA Tour spot with a runner-up showing in last December's qualifying tournament and won as a rookie just five months later. Dominant early in the final round, Iwai opened with a birdie and reeled off four more in a row starting at the third hole. "Nervous in the morning, but I played the first hole and I was calmed down," Iwai said. She added birdies at the par-three 10th and par-five 13th to reach 13-under and stretch her lead to eight strokes. Bae, a 23-year-old American rookie who began the day with a one-stroke lead over Iwai, opened with back-to-back bogeys, went bogey-birdie at the par-five fifth and par-four sixth and closed the front nine with another bogey to tumble out of contention. Iwai made her first bogey of the weekend at the 14th hole and Bae made birdies at 13 and the par-three 15th but added a bogey at 17 as Iwai's lead only slid to seven strokes before Bae closed with a birdie. "I'm pretty happy with this week," Bae said. "It just tells me that I have a long ways to go but also I'm also getting there, too. "I definitely realized that I've gotten more patience. I think that's a really key thing out here, just being able to focus within all the stress and pressure. I think that was really good. So I'm happy. I definitely know what I need to work on for the week off for me. Hopefully I'll be able to score better at the next tournament." js/dmc
Associated Press
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Chisato Iwai wins Mexico Riviera Maya Open by 6 shots for first LPGA title
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico (AP) — Chisato Iwai took a tournament up for grabs and turned it into her own highlight show Sunday, making five birdies in her opening six holes for a 6-under 66 and a six-shot victory in the Mexico Riviera Maya Open for her first LPGA title. Iwai led from the opening hole at El Camaleon when she made birdie and Jenny Bae made bogey, and the 22-year-old from Japan was on her way. 'My mental is so calm — calm every day, every time,' Iwai said. She ran off four straight birdies, poured in every putt that mattered and then cruised home to become the third LPGA rookie to win this season. Iwai, whose twin sister Akie Iwai has been runner-up twice this year, finished at 12-under 276. Bae had a one-shot lead going into the final round at Mayakoba, and the 10 players behind her also had never experienced winning on the LPGA Tour. It didn't take long for Iwai, who had eight wins on the Japan LPGA before getting her LPGA card, to turn this into a rout. She hit wedge to 4 feet on the third hole for birdie. She rolled in a 7-foot birdie putt on the fourth. Her approach to the par-5 fifth was right of the green, close to the water, and she calmly chipped that to 2 feet for a third straight birdie. Iwai finished the big birdie run with a 15-foot putt on No. 6. Bae bogeyed the opening two holes and never caught up. She steadied herself on the back nine to salvage a 73 and a runner-up finish. 'It just tells me that I have a long ways to go but also I'm also getting there, too,' Bae said. 'So I'm happy. I definitely know what I need to work on for the week off for me. Hopefully I'll be able to score better at the next tournament.' The six-shot victory for Iwai matched the largest margin this year. Rio Takeda of Japan also won by six at the Blue Bay LPGA in China. Iwai took off early and it seemed as though everyone simply cleared out of her way. Gabriela Ruffels, who birdied five of her last six holes on Saturday to get within two shots of the lead, made only one birdie in her round of 76. Miranda Wang, who stayed in the game with clutch par putts down the stretch in the third round, closed with a 76 without making a birdie. Yahui Zhang made bogey on six of her last seven holes for a 78. Iwai won $375,000 for her first title. It's the first time in 10 years the LPGA has had three rookies win before the end of May. The LPGA returned to Mexico for the first time since 2017 and didn't attract a strong field with the U.S. Women's Open next week at Erin Hills is Wisconsin. Charley Hull at No. 15 was the highest-ranked player in the field. She didn't break 70 all week and tied for 32nd. ___ AP golf:
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bae holds on to LPGA lead in Mexico
Jenny Bae was unable to make the most of a strong start to the third round of the LPGA Riviera Maya Open but held on to a one-stroke lead heading into Sunday's final round. The 23-year-old rookie started with three straight birdies but was unable to capitalize on that momentum, finishing with a one-under 71. Bae's impressive start was followed by a bogey on the par-four sixth but the back nine proved challenging as she had to settle for pars before ending with bogey on the final hole. "I was definitely a little nervous and tense heading into the third round," Bae admitted. "The three birdies back-to-back-to-back were a big confidence booster for me (but) I didn't finish as well as I wanted to, but that's OK. It just tells me I need to fight more in the last 18 holes." Chasing closely behind Bae are Japan's Chisato Iwai and China's Zhang Yahui, who both shot four-under 68s on Saturday to climb to a tie for second at six-under. Zhang said she simply focused on conserving pars on tougher holes while being aggressive on scoring opportunities. "I just wanted to save all the pars. If the hole was difficult, I aimed to keep it on the fairway and on the green. But for par-fives or shorter par-fours, I would really try to make birdies," she added. Iwai, meanwhile, delivered one of the cleanest rounds of the day, bouncing back from a second-round 74 to put herself firmly in contention. Her 68 included four birdies, capped by a pair on the final two holes. Australia's Gabriela Ruffels sits alone in fourth after a steady 71. A cluster of players, including Lindy Duncan, Brianna Do and Germany's Aline Krauter, shared fifth at four-under. sev/js
National Post
24-05-2025
- Sport
- National Post
Jenny Bae lets scoring chances slips away and settles for 1-shot lead in LPGA event in Mexico
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Jenny Bae started with three straight birdies and had a one-shot lead that could have been larger except for a soft finish Saturday in the Mexico Riviera Maya Open. Article content Article content Bae didn't make another birdies after the third hole. What held her back were having to settle for pars on easy scoring holes, and then closing with a bogey when it took her two shots to get out of the crushed coral left of the green on the par-5 18th. Article content Article content Bae was at 7-under 209, and the LPGA rookie faces a big test Sunday — along with just about everyone else chasing her — in a bid for her first LPGA victory. Article content 'I didn't finish as well as I wanted to, but that's OK,' Bae said. 'Just tells me that I need to fight more the last 18 holes.' Article content The El Camaleon course at Mayakoba was set up for scoring, with the tees moved up on the par-4 17th to make it reachable with a fairway metal, and the par-5 closing hole. Article content Yahui Zhang of China finished birdie-birdie for a 68 and was at 6-under 210, along with Chisato Iwai of Japan, who also birdied the last two holes. Article content Another shot back was Gabriela Ruffels of Australia, who had the strongest closing kick of all. Ruffels was 3 over for her round when she holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole. On the par-4 16th, the toughest on the back nine, she holed a birdie putt from 20 feet. Article content Ruffels left her tee shot just in front of the green on the 17th, pitched to a back pin some 4 feet away for birdie, and then made it three straight at the end with a birdie at the 18th. That allowed her to salvage a 71 and left her very much in the mix. Article content Article content 'I was just proud of the way I kind of stuck in there and felt like I gave myself the chance to kind of come back,' Ruffels said. 'To finish the way I did is really good and some momentum into tomorrow.' Article content Also finishing strong was Miranda Wang of China, even if it was to keep her head above water. She was five shots behind when Wang started missing to the left — a tee shot into the bushes on the 16th that led to a penalty shot, a tee shot on the 17th into the water left of the green. Article content Both times, Wang made 15-foot putts to save par, and then after pulling her approach left of the 18th green, she got that up-and-down for birdie for a 73. She was among seven players at 4-under 212, three shots out of the lead. Article content Bae was pleased to be in front, though she missed an opportunity to have a little more room for error. She missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-5 13th. She was in good position off the 17th, just short of the green, but her pitch was strong and too far right and rolled through to the collar. She had to settle for par.
