In just the third start of her rookie season on the LPGA Tour, Kim called upon all of her winning experience to conjure two closing birdies at the Lotte Championship and claw her way into a three-person playoff.

The 22-year-old Epson Tour graduate nearly holed her chip shot at the first playoff hole and buried the birdie putt right in the heart, giving Australia its first LPGA Tour winner since Minjee Lee won last year’s US Women’s Open. Her win guarantees Kim a place in the field for Lee’s US Women’s Open defence at Pebble Beach.

It is Kim’s first win since her victory at the IOA Golf Classic on the Epson Tour last year and credited her experience on the secondary tour in 2022 for how she handled the pressure of the final three holes in Hawaii.

“I’ve learned a lot through the Epson Tour last year,” said Kim, who finished fifth on the Epson Tour moneylist to earn promotion to the LPGA Tour.

“Just being in contention every week, week in, week out, you know, living out of a suitcase, being just on tour life, I guess hit reality for me.

“Kind of just the taste tester of what life on the LPGA Tour is like.

“I would say it was probably the least nerve-wracking playoff I’ve ever had and I’m quite surprised at that myself.

“Yes, I was nervous over the putt, but was focused enough to block that out.

“Having that year on the Epson Tour, even though I missed final stage the year before, was the greatest plan for me.”

Drewitt is on course to play his way back onto the PGA TOUR in 2024 despite a disappointing final day at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Veritex Bank Championship in Texas.

A five-stroke leader at the start of play, when Drewitt made his second bogey of the day at the par-5 10th he found himself two strokes behind and in a tie for third.

He bounced back admirably with birdies at 12 and 13 to rejoin Spencer Levin at the top of the leaderboard, the pair tied at 19-under par as Drewitt stood on the 17th tee.

As Levin made birdie at the par-5 18th in the group ahead, Drewitt dropped a shot on 17. A sudden reinstatement of a two-shot deficit meant that Drewitt needed to eagle the 72nd hole to force a playoff.

After missing the green left with his second shot, Drewitt’s chip brushed past the side of the hole and rolled out to 12 feet. He showed tremendous resilience to convert that birdie putt and secure outright second, one stroke back of Levin.

It is the 32-year-old’s fourth top-five finish from seven starts this season and is projected to move him up to second on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, the top 25 at season’s end to earn a PGA TOUR card.

Another Aussie to enhance their standing on a world Order of Merit was New South Welshman Kevin Yuan.

Closing in on a career-high world ranking, Yuan shot 68 in the final round of the International Series Vietnam and narrowly missed a birdie opportunity on the final hole that would have forced a playoff with Zimbabwean champion Kieran Vincent.

“I gave it my all out there today,” said Yuan, who is now sixth on the International Series Order of Merit.

“Left a few shots out there today and a few shots out there this week, but I’m happy with where my game is and the progression that it’s on.

“It was an awesome round by Kieran and a huge win for him, congrats to him. But overall, I’m pretty satisfied with how my tournament went and looking for more good things to come.”

The result continued a remarkable run of form by the up-and-coming golfer from Sydney, who has made the cut in all eight events on the Asian Tour this season. His result in Vietnam improved upon his previous best finish, which was fifth place at the International Series Thailand last month.

Hunter Valley product Dylan Perry was in contention all week at the Japan Golf Tour’s Kansai Open but faded to finish tied for 15th while Cam Davis banked $US607,500 ($A906,241) for his tie for seventh at the RBC Heritage on the PGA TOUR.

Results

Asian Tour
International Series Vietnam
KN Golf Links, Vietnam
1             Kieran Vincent    67-65-71-66—269            $US360,000
T2           Kevin Yuan          67-69-66-68—270            $173,000
T13        Travis Smyth       72-66-70-66—274            $28,966.67
T13        Todd Sinnott       70-67-69-68—274            $28,966.67
T16        Doug Klein           66-70-69-70—275            $22,100
T27        Zach Murray       68-71-71-66—276            $16,600
T56        John Lyras           69-69-71-72—281            $7,100
T61        Andrew Dodt      68-72-69-73—282            $6,500
T68        Nick Voke (NZ)   69-71-70-74—284            $5,100
MC         Tom Power Horan            69-73—142
MC         Jack Murdoch     69-74—143
MC         Marcus Fraser    70-73—143
MC         Wade Ormsby    72-72—144
MC         Scott Hend          72-72—144
MC         Jack Thompson   71-74—145
MC         Ben Campbell (NZ)           70-76—146
MC         Terry Pilkadaris  72-75—147
MC         Harrison Gilbert-Wong    72-76—148

PGA TOUR
RBC Heritage
Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
1             Matt Fitzpatrick  66-70-63-68—267            $US3.6m
Won on the third hole of sudden death playoff
T7           Cam Davis           70-67-66-68—271            $607,500
T31        Adam Scott         69-68-68-72—277            $107,400
T63        Lucas Herbert     72-67-71-74—284            $43,400
MC         Min Woo Lee     71-70—141
WD        Ryan Fox

LPGA Tour
Lotte Championship
Hoakalei Country Club, Ewa Beach, Oahu, Hawaii
1             Grace Kim            71-67-70-68—276            $US300,000
Won on the first hole of sudden death playoff
T19        Karis Davidson    75-71-70-69—285            $22,854
T38        Sarah Kemp        74-69-73-72—288            $9,576
T38        Stephanie Kyriacou          70-73-72-73—288            $9,576
T61        Su Oh    74-70-75-72—291            $4,804
MC         Sarah Jane Smith              77-71—148

Korn Ferry Tour
Veritex Bank Championship
Texas Rangers Golf Club, Arlington, Texas
1             Spencer Levin     66-68-67-63—264            $US180,000
2             Brett Drewitt      64-66-65-70—265            $90,000
T30        Curtis Luck          72-67-66-69—274           
T46        Rhein Gibson      69-68-73-66—276           
T68        Dimi Papadatos  66-69-76-69—280           
MC         Steven Bowditch               75-79—154

Japan Golf Tour
Kansai Open Golf Championship
Izumigaoka Country Club, Osaka
1             Taika Simikawa   69-67-64-67—267            ¥16m
T12        Brad Kennedy     69-67-71-70—277            ¥1.616m
T15        Dylan Perry         65-69-70-74—278            ¥1.336m
T44        Brendan Jones   68-70-74-73—285            ¥288,000
MC         Andrew Evans    71-73—144

PGA TOUR Canada
PGA TOUR Canada Qualifying Tournament USA West 2
Soboba Springs GC, San Jacinto, California
1             Charlie Reiter     70-70-64-69—273
T13        Cory Crawford    70-70-72-69—281
T21        Grant Booth        72-74-70-68—284
T74        Alexander Bottrell (a)      74-75-72-74—295
T81        Jerry Song (NZ)  76-72-73-75—296