Stephanie Kyriacou produced a second miracle shot and Minjee Lee received a major honour as an historic season of majors reached its conclusion at the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl.
Arriving at Wales on the back of consecutive wins by Australians in LPGA major championships, Kyriacou and Lee ensured the Australian flag remained prominent on the final day.
After making an ace at the par-3 eighth in Round 2, Kyriacou came within inches of a second inside three days at the par-3 fifth on Sunday.
What happened next almost defied belief.
As Kyriacou’s ball sat just to the left of the hole, playing partner Mim Rhodes also took dead aim, bouncing off the Australian’s ball and into the hole for a major championship ace of her own.
“We actually just watched the video, and it hit my ball, and it went in. So I’m kind of claiming it, even though Mimi is probably not going to say that,” said the 24-year-old.
The good karma obviously rubbed off, Kyriacou tapping in for the first of five birdies on her run home to a tie for eighth, the fourth major championship top 10 of her career.
“The first hole was quite rough. It’s not ideal when you hit your second ball OB, onto the beach,” Kyriacou added with a laugh.
“I stuck in there, showed some grit, and finished 1-under today. I’m very happy.”
Winner of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June, Lee completed an outstanding major season with a tie for 13th, becoming the first two-time winner of the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award.
Although finishing outside the top 10 meant that Lee didn’t add to her points tally, the KPMG win and tie for third at the Amundi Evian Championship gave her 78 points to add to her win in 2022.
“From where I was at the beginning of the year and obviously winning KPMG and played Chevron
and had a good finish at Evian and all right at US Open and all right here… I’m going to say I’ve done pretty well,” was Lee’s summary of her season in the showpiece events after an even-par 72 on Sunday.
“Maybe like an 8.5 (out of 10).”
A tie for 19th by Karl Vilips was the best of the Aussies at the final event of the PGA TOUR’s regular season, not enough to force his way inside the top 70 who will now contest the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Adam Scott (T55) also missed out for just the second time since the inception of the FedEx Cup in 2007 while Cam Davis’s tie for 44th saw him squeeze into the Playoffs in 69th position.
Results
AIG Women’s Open
Royal Porthcawl Golf Club, Porthcawl, Wales
1 Miyu Yamashita 68-65-74-70—277 $US1.4625m
T8 Stephanie Kyriacou 74-70-69-71—284 $228,359
T13 Minjee Lee 70-76-68-72—286 $145,533
T36 Lydia Ko (NZ) 73-73-70-75—291 $57,632
T67 Grace Kim 71-75-74-80—300 $19,006
MC Amelia Garvey (NZ) 74-73—147
MC Gabriela Ruffels 71-76—147
MC Hira Naveed 78-71—149
MC Momoka Kobori (NZ) 74-77—151
MC Cassie Porter 79-73—152
MC Karis Davidson 76-77—153
MC Hannah Green 79-77—156
MC Kirsten Rudgeley 78-79—157
PGA TOUR
Wyndham Championship
Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina
1 Cameron Young 63-62-65-68—258 $US1.476m
T19 Karl Vilips 67-67-69-67—270 $112,750
T44 Cam Davis 68-68-69-71—276 $23,951\
T55 Adam Scott 65-71-69-72—277 $19,106
T72 Aaron Baddeley 70-67-74-71—282 $16,564
MC Ryan Fox (NZ) 68-73—141
Japan Golf Tour
Richard Mille Charity Tournament
Noto Country Club, Ishikawa
1 Tomoyo Ikemura 65-66-69-64—264 ¥19m
MC Brad Kennedy 72-68—140
Korn Ferry Tour
Utah Championship
Ogden Golf & Country Club, Ogden, Utah
MC Rhein Gibson 70-69—139
WD Harry Hillier
HotelPlanner Tour
Farmfoods Scottish Challenge supported by The R&A
SCHLOSS Roxburghe, Heiton by Kelso, Scotland
1 Daniel Young 64-67-64-70—265 €46,196
T62 Hayden Hopewell 67-72-72-72—283 €851.74
T72 Tom Power Horan 71-69-71-76—287 €563.01
LET Access Series
Q-Tour Himmerland Championship
Himmerland Resort, Denmark
1 Fernanda Lira 74-64-69—207 €8,000
Won in sudden-death playoff
T26 Justice Bosio 74-71-73—218 €665.83
T26 Abbie Teasdale 68-78-72—218 €665.83
T36 Stephanie Bunque 73-74-74—221 €501.25
MC Belinda Ji 77-79—156
Epson Tour
Four Winds Invitational
South Bend Country Club, South Bend, Indiana
1 Leah John 63-70-74—207 $33,750
MC Jess Whitting 74-73—147
MC Su Oh 73-77—150
MC Jennifer Elliott 76-77—153
Legends Tour
Staysure PGA Seniors Championship
Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeen, Scotland
1 Bo Van Pelt 74-72-68-71—285
Won on first hole of sudden death playoff
3 Scott Hend 76-73-71-69—289
T24 Mark Brown (NZ) 79-75-74-70—298
T33 Michael Long (NZ) 75-77-68-81—301
MC Andre Stolz 78-83—161
MC Michael Campbell (NZ) 83-79—162
PGA TOUR Americas
Osprey Valley Open
TPC Toronto (Heathlands), Caledon, Ontario
1 Carson Bacha 65-67-65-64—261
Won on second hole of sudden death
MC Grant Booth 69-70—139
MC Tony Chen 74-69—143