Minjee Lee upstream, wins the Evian Championship

On July 25, Lee completed a comeback into the major record on the LPGA Tour, like Patty Sheehan at the 1983 LPGA Championship and Karrie Webb in 2006 at Kraft Nabisco – the forerunner of ANA Inspiration.

At the beginning of the closing leg, Lee was at -11, while Lee6 Jeongeun monopolized the top with -18. From a position of seven strokes, Lee won by meeting two conditions at the same time – scoring the deepest negative in the finish line and Lee6 losing fire.

Lee started Lee6 one hole ahead, the whole match without bogey, to seven birdies, of which four birdies over the last five holes. She finished at -18 – first place after 72 standard holes on par71. In contrast, Lee6 finished half a round with a birdie, but came five bogeys. She went through the next six holes adding a birdie, leaving all par.

When Lee left the 18th hole, Lee6 and Yealimi Noh both birdies on the 17th hole. At this point, both were one stroke away from Lee. Australian golfer thinking about the possibility of playoff should rush to the green to practice to prepare.

She wanted to see the situation with her own eyes, so she was like a shuttle between the hot zone and the 18th hole green. In the end, Noh kept par so she finished third (point -17), got 300,750 USD, and Lee6 scored a birdie to compete. championship with Lee. The duel took place on the last hole, par5.

Lee6 put the ball into the lake on the second shot and Lee hit the green with an eagle opportunity after two swings, the latter with a 6 iron, 1.8 meters from the hole.

“On the second shot, I was going to use a 5 iron, but caddy Jason Gilroyed advised me to make it shorter. I listened to him,” Lee said of the turning point that helped her win. Lee6 finished at the bogey, and Lee finished after two putts.

“I’m speechless because I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long. It feels like a dream now,” Lee said at the ceremony to receive the trophy with a $675,000 cash logo. Lee6 finished second, receiving $414,580.

Before the Evian Championship 2021, Lee won five championships after seven years of competing on the LPGA Tour but did not win a major. The 25-year-old golfer also went through two playoffs and lost both, including the loss to former world number one Lydia Ko at the 2018 Mediheal Championship. Yesterday, Ko congratulated Lee by spraying champagne on his senior. Ko won Evian in 2015, also from the opposite position – two strokes from the top of the table after 54 holes. This period, the 24-year-old New Zealand golfer was six strokes away from Lee6 and returned to T6 (point -13).

Two weeks ago, Lee Min Woo – Lee’s younger brother – won the European Tour for the second time, at the Scottish Open also from a one-hole playoff.

After the Evian Championship, Lee flew to Dallas, USA to meet him and then went to Tokyo to compete in the Olympics with Australia. She finished T7 in Rio 2016.

Quoc Huy