Jessica Korda sets tournament record with Honda LPGA Thailand win

Jessica Korda celebrated her first start of 2018 with a wire-to-wire victory as she smashed the tournament scoring record for the Honda LPGA Thailand.

Korda shared the lead after her opening 66 before taking control of the event with a stunning second-round 62, and she closed with a composed five-under 67 to earn a comfortable four-shot win over Lexi Thompson and Moriya Jutanugarn.

The 24-year-old, who is the daughter of former Australian Open tennis champion Petr Korda, cruised to the turn in one under on the final day before her lead was whittled down to just two strokes by a charging Jutanugarn.

But Korda responded with three birdies in five holes from the 11th, and added another with a perfect 25-foot putt at the 17th to cement her fifth LPGA Tour title, and her first since winning in Malaysia in October, 2015.

Korda's remarkable score of 25 under par, which featured three eagles and 25 birdies over the week, was three shots better than the previous tournament record set by Amy Yang last year.

"I can't believe it, today was such a blur, I was just trying to make birdies. I tried to relax, but I was nervous," said Korda, "This was my first event my rookie year, and I played really, really well this week.

"I was just staying patient, and it was lucky I had the four-stroke lead because these girls are good. It was really, really intense coming down the stretch, but I knew I had to keep my head down and try and make birdies and they would eventually fall."

Thompson carded eight birdies in a flawless 64 which earned a share of second with Jutanugarn (67), whose sister, Ariya, was a further our strokes adrift of the champion.

LPGA Tour Golf

England's Charley Hull just missed out on a top-10 finish, but she kept a bogey off her card on the final day and made six birdies in a 66 which lifted her to 13th place on 13 under par.