New Zealander Lydia Ko became the youngest woman to win a major when the 18-year-old carded a final-round 63 to claim the Evian Championship at Evian-Les-Bains, France, Sunday.
Her eight-under-par final round took her to 16 under for the championship, six better than American Lexi Thompson.
The previous youngest major champion was Morgan Pressel who was six months older than Ko when she won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
“To finish with two birdies, finish on the last 72nd hole, with a birdie, it doesn’t happen often,” Ko was quoted as saying on the LPGA website (www.lpga.com).
“It’s definitely one of the top rounds of my whole entire life, and I’m sure it will be in my career.”
It was the lowest final round by a winner of a women’s major, surpassing the 64 Karen Stupples carded when triumphing at the 2004 British Open.
South Korea’s Lee Mi-hyang had begun the day at the head of a packed leaderboard on 10 under, one shot clear of Thompson.
Thompson’s challenge faded after she moved three shots ahead of Ko during the front nine.
“I struggled on the back,” Thompson said. “I kind of lost my tee ball and didn’t hit good iron shots, and it’s kind of hard to beat somebody that shoots 63.”
World number two Ko fired eight birdies with no dropped shots.
Pieters wins Dutch Open after Czech success
AMSTERDAM — Belgian Thomas Pieters won the Dutch Open on Sunday after England’s Lee Slattery bogeyed the final hole with a playoff looming.
Slattery had been chasing back-to-back European Tour victories after winning last week’s Russian Open after a seven-under-par 63 in the third round left him sharing the overnight lead with Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello.
Instead it was Pieters who took a back-to-back Tour win, following up his Czech masters victory last month, when Slattery missed a four foot putt for par.
“I’m a little bit surprised because I was getting ready for the play-off,” said the Belgian after a final round of 65 to finish 19-under-par-261 and one clear of Slattery and Spain’s Eduardo de la Riva.
“Lee played really well but this victory is even cooler than the first one and now I want number three,” added Pieters, who had been two strokes down overnight but fired four birdies on the front nine on Sunday.
“I felt like I played better in the Czech Republic but my short game was great this week and saved me many times.”