NAPLES, Fla. — Lydia Ko hit a fairway metallic to eight toes to arrange the birdie she and Jason Day wanted to win the Grant Thornton Invitational on Sunday. They closed with a 6-under 66 in modified fourball to seize the primary mixed-team occasion in 24 years.
Enjoying the par-5 seventeenth gap, Ko and Day had been tied with the Canadian duo of Corey Conners and Brooke Henderson, who needed to accept two closing pars and a 63.
The format allowed for each gamers to hit tee pictures, then change to the opposite participant’s golf ball and end out the outlet. Day was in a bunker left of the inexperienced on the par-5 seventeenth, no simple up-and-down. Ko had 208 right into a slight wind and her fairway metallic by no means left its goal.
“That’s so good,” Day stated as Ko’s shot was within the air. It landed close to the outlet and rolled out about 8 toes. Her eagle putt by no means had an opportunity, however the exhausting work was carried out. Each secured simple pars on the 18th to complete at 26-under 190.
“It’s bizarre as a result of that felt like probably the most stress-free win, as a result of I knew she was going to step up ultimately,” Day stated.
That she did, and it allowed Ko to cap off an in any other case poor yr on a profitable observe. Ko was the Race to CME Globe champion on the LPGA Tour final yr at Tiburon. This yr, she did not be among the many prime 60 who returned as she went winless — till Sunday.
They cut up the $1 million winner’s share.
It was the primary time the PGA Tour and LPGA had a mixed-team occasion for the reason that JC Penney Traditional in 1999, and gamers on each excursions spoke endlessly about wanting ahead to the following one.
Conners holed out from the golf green for eagle on the ninth gap and briefly took the lead till Day made a 15-foot birdie on the twelfth. They stayed shut the remainder of the way in which.
“We each did a reasonably good job of getting the ball in play off the tee,” Conners stated. “There’s just a few pictures we’d each prefer to have again all through the day. However we fought exhausting and gave ourselves quite a lot of probabilities.”
They did not birdie the seventeenth when Henderson pulled her second shot nicely left of the inexperienced right into a waste space, and Conners got here up wanting the inexperienced and couldn’t get up-and-down.
Ludvig Åberg, the sensational rookie to received on the PGA Tour and European tour and performed within the Ryder Cup since turning professional in June, teamed with fellow Swede Madelene Sagstrom to publish a 60 within the last spherical. Additionally they briefly had the lead, however ran out of holes and completed third, two pictures behind.
Tony Finau and Nelly Korda didn’t make birdie till the sixth gap. They closed with two birdies for a 67 and tied for fourth with Denny McCarthy and Megan Khang (65).
