Carlota Ciganda beats Alison Lee in play-off to claim HanaBank Championship
Sunday 16 October 2016 10:03, UK
Carlota Ciganda beat Alison Lee with a birdie on the first hole of a play-off to claim the rain-affected LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Spaniard won with a six-foot putt after Lee's birdie chip from the rough off the back edge of the green missed a half-inch to the right.
Both players blew big leads on the final day, with Ciganda overcoming a five-stroke deficit on the front nine before then blowing a five-stroke lead of her own on the final five holes and only getting into the play-off when Lee bogeyed the par-five 18th after hitting her third shot into the water.
Ciganda played the final five holes in four-over - making a double bogey on 14 and bogeys on 16 and 18 - for a two-over 70.
After entering the day three shots ahead of US Women's Open champion Brittany Lang, Lee laboured to a 75 to match Ciganda at 10-under on the Ocean Course.
The win marked Ciganda's first LPGA Tour title, joining Sweden's Anna Nordqvist and Germany's Caroline Masson as the third European winner of the season.
She birdied five of the first eight holes, taking a one-stroke lead with a six-foot birdie putt on the par-three eighth. The two-time European Solheim Cup player then added a 20-footer on the par-four 10th and was five strokes ahead entering the 14th before her late implosion.
Needing a par on 18 for her first victory, Lee hit a wedge that smacked into the front bank and bounced into the water. She was able to drop a few feet off the right edge of the green, chipped past and made a five-footer to force the play-off.
China's Shanshan Feng (70) and South Korea's Min-Sun Kim (71) tied for third at eight-under, Feng enjoying her third straight top-four finish in Asia after tying for fourth in China and finishing second last week in Taiwan.
