Nelly Korda produced an eagle-birdie finish to salvage a two-over 73 on the final day in Florida and force a play-off with Lydia Ko, before beating her with a par on the second extra hole; Ko narrowly missed out on claiming a second successive LPGA Tour title
Monday 29 January 2024 11:18, UK
Nelly Korda recovered from a final-round collapse to produce a sensational fightback and beat Lydia Ko in a play-off at the LPGA Drive On Championship.
Ko went into the final day four strokes behind leader Korda and fell further adrift with an early double-bogey, before charging back into contention at Bradenton Country Club with four birdies in her next eight holes.
The former world No 1 responded to two bogeys on her back nine by making a sensational eagle at the par-five 17th, pulling her ahead of Korda and Megan Khang after the American pair stuttered along the closing stretch.
Ko then made par at the last to close a two-under 69 and set the target at 11 under, only for Korda to produce an eagle-birdie finish for the second successive day to salvage a two-over 73 and force the contest into extra holes.
The players returned to the par-four 18th for the play-off, where a three-putt bogey from Ko on the second extra hole allowed Korda to snatch victory and her first victory of the season by scrambling a par from the back of the green.
Korda started the final day four ahead as she chased a wire-to-wire victory but immediately saw her lead reduced when Khang birdied the first, with the overnight leader then dropping a shot at the fifth to cut the gap to two.
Khang fired back-to-back birdies from the sixth to briefly move tied for the lead alongside Korda but bogeyed the ninth to reach the turn one behind, with Ko a further two strokes back after cancelling out a double-bogey at the third by picking up shots at the fourth and sixth.
Ko opened her back nine with successive birdies to get within one of the lead until she bogeyed the par-four 13th, although was brought back into the tournament when Korda followed a dropped shot at the 14th by finding water off the par-three next tee and making a double-bogey.
Khang bogeyed the same hole and joined Korda in carding a bogey-five at the 15th, which left the pair three behind when Ko - playing in the group ahead - fired a sensational approach into the par-five 17th to leave a tap-in eagle.
Ko two-putted from long range to par the last and remain at 11 under, while Korda responded to the four dropped shots in a three-hole stretch by rolling in a 20-foot putt from the fringe to eagle the 17th for a second successive day.
The pair went back to the tee for the second play-off hole, where Ko three-putted from long range and watched on as Korda pitched to five feet and converted the par-save putt for her ninth LPGA Tour victory.
Khang finished three strokes back in third ahead of Ayaka Furue and Lucy Li, while Scotland's Gemma Dryburgh was the leading European player and ended tied-13th after a four-over 75.
"I thought that the tournament was over going into 17," Korda admitted. "I just kind of gave myself a chance. I knew that if I rolled that eagle in, I had to birdie the last hole.
"I seem to always make it very dramatic and interesting, so there is no better feeling than to do it in front of a home crowd. It was such a grind out there, so back and forth. I felt like I never really got anything going, but I just can't even believe it right now!"
Ko, who was looking to become the first player since Ai Miyazato in 2010 to win the first two events of the LPGA Tour season, said: I played really solidly today. I had a few three-putts today and I think that was at the end what I think cost the tournament."
The LPGA Tour heads to Asia next for a three-week swing, starting with Lilia Vu's title defence at the Honda LPGA Thailand from February 22-25. Stream PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and more top sport with NOW.
