Minjee Lee on Sunday after her victor on the Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship.
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Minjee Lee hit Sunday’s greatest shot, and he or she gained the LPGA’s Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship in a playoff. In case you’re coming right here for the elevator-ride wrap-up, there you go. However you must keep some time! There was a lot extra happening Sunday at Kenwood Nation Membership in Cincinnati.
Like Lexi Thompson! GOLF’s Alan Bastable documented it effectively right here, however one among golf’s hottest gamers has struggled this 12 months. She’s missed five-straight cuts. She’s in jeopardy of shedding her full enjoying privileges for 2024. Sunday? She completed tied for nineteenth, her greatest end since … final November.
There’s extra.
Like Ruoning Yin! That is one thing. Final April, she was floating round 450th on the planet. Then? In March, she gained the LA Open. In June, she gained a significant, the Girls’s PGA. And on Monday, she’ll get up as the brand new world No. 1. She’s additionally simply 20 years previous.
There’s extra.
Like Charley Hull! She’s been in your TV usually this 12 months. We gained’t quickly neglect that “shy youngsters don’t get sweets” line from the U.S. Open, the place she ignored laying up from below the tree in the course of Pebble Seaside’s iconic 18th gap and blasted one forward in hopes of a win. She completed runner-up there. She completed second on the Girls’s Open. She hit Sunday’s second-best shot. Extra on that beneath.
There’s extra.
Like Lee’s shot that she airmailed out of bounds on the par-5 twelfth whereas holding a four-shot lead!
Say what?
Actually! OK, it was ugly. However the response wasn’t. Having led by 5 after 10 holes, she grimaced for a sec on 12. Briefly, she lowered her head. Then she was handed a brand new ball, made double bogey and marched to 13. Notably, Hull, her closest pursuer getting into the outlet, had bogeyed after hitting into water, and Lee led by three.
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Then the lead was two, when Hull dropped her tee shot on the par-3 14th to eight toes and dropped the putt. However Lee marched forward.
Then the lead was one, when Hull curled in a 10-footer on the par-5 fifteenth. However Lee marched on.
Then the lead was none, when Hull rolled in a 15-footer on the par-4 sixteenth. It was her third-straight birdie. However sure, Lee marched on. They remained knotted, and Lee and Hull moved to a playoff.
The place we received the second-best shot of the day!
Again on the par-4 18th, Hull despatched her second shot over the inexperienced and up towards tent seating. She dropped. From about 60 toes away, she selected putter. Notably, just a few toes in entrance of her was a brownish patch of dust that had been positioned to cowl up an influence line. It didn’t matter. She putted to an inch.
However sure, Lee marched on. She parred to match Hull. They went again to 18 for a second playoff gap.
The place we received the shot of the day!
From the tee, Lee discovered the left tough. It was buried. It didn’t matter. She labored an iron to about 30 yards wanting the inexperienced, her ball took just a few skips, and it rolled to 2 toes. However you understand our entire ‘marching on’ theme? She did that right here, too. Performed it cool. On the inexperienced, Hull missed her birdie try, Lee didn’t, and he or she was your winner. She’s already among the many sport’s elite — this was her ninth LPGA win, two of them being majors — and this effort was a gritty one.
Whew.
On Golf Channel afterward, to on-course reporter Kay Cockerill, Lee added this:
“I believe I had just a few moments the place I used to be like, I actually felt like I used to be shedding, however I wasn’t. The rating was we have been just about tied.
“However I used to be identical to, let’s simply play till the tip and see the place it finally ends up. So I simply didn’t hand over. I simply performed each shot to the very best I may after which, you understand, gained the playoff, so it feels good.”
