Australian Grace Kim lifted her maiden Major title at The Amundi Evian Championship with a nail-biting playoff victory over Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul at Evian Resort Golf Club in France.
Kim’s dramatic victory came on the second extra hole when she eagled the par-five 18th for the second time on Sunday. She had also made a three at the 18th in regulation play, hitting a superb four-hybrid to a foot of the pin.
The tap-in eagle resulted in a two-shot swing as playing partner Thitikul could only make par, leaving both players tied on 14-under-par 270 following closing 67s at the par-71 course.
On the first playoff hole, Thitikul had looked set to claim her sixth LPGA title and first Major victory when Kim hit her second shot into the water hazard on the right of the green.
However, the Australian pulled off a stunning chip-in for birdie, forcing Thitikul to sink a 10-foot putt to extend the sudden-death decider. The Thai player had narrowly missed a similar putt in regulation play for the outright win.
Both players found the fairway off the tee on the second playoff hole, also contested at the 18th.
After Kim hit the same four-hybrid to about 15 feet right of the flag, Thitikul pulled her six-iron to the left and did well to find the putting surface from a tough lie. Kim confidently sank the eagle putt to seal the win, earning a US$1.2 million (RM5.1 million) paycheque from the US$8 million (RM34 million) total purse.
Describing her victory as ‘a massive tick’, Kim revealed that she was losing motivation following a string of lacklustre performances early this year.
“I had to get some hard conversations done with the team, kind of had to wake up a little bit – so to be sitting here next to this trophy is definitely surreal,” said Kim, who now has two LPGA titles to her name having broken through in her rookie season at the 2023 Lotte Championship presented by Hoakalei.
“I caught a bit of a cold early this week as well, but even if I’m 80%, I’ll give my 100% of that 80. Yeah, there was no stopping me this week,” added the 24-year-old.
It was a heartbreaking loss for Thitikul, but the 22-year-old Thai took the setback in her stride. “I knew it was going to be a tough day, it was going to be a long day, but I just want to say I’m so proud of myself and what I did out there,” she said.
Kim is the fifth Australian to win a women’s Major title, joining Jan Stephenson, Karrie Webb, Hannah Green and Minjee Lee. Winner of this event in 2021 for the first of her three Major titles, Lee eagled the final hole for a round of 68 to tie for third place on 13-under-par with English amateur sensation Lottie Woad, who shot a stunning 64.
“I felt like I left a lot out there. I didn’t have my best stuff, just kind of scrambled here and there. So, I think with what I had, I played pretty decent,” said the 29-year-old Lee, whose third Major victory and 11th LPGA title came at last month’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
54-hole co-leaders, Gabriela Ruffels of Australia and Cara Gainer of England, were unable to sustain their challenges on an exciting final day. Ruffels signed off with a 72 to settle for joint ninth position on 10-under par, while Gainer dropped down the leaderboard into joint 14th place following a final round 74.
Both Malaysian players who teed off in the fourth women’s Major of the year failed to make the halfway cut of two-over-par. 2025 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific champion Jeneath Wong carded rounds of 74 and 72 to finish 36 holes just two short of the cutline, while newly-minted professional Mirabel Ting was five shots further back following rounds of 78 and 73.
