2013 LPGA: Beatriz Recari Wins Kia Classic in Playoff

After going bogey free for three rounds,

Beatriz Recari

stumbles down the stretch, but gets a win at

The KIA Classic

in a playoff. The young lady  from Spain made more bogeys on Sunday than pars, and finished with a final round 74 to end in a tie with

I K Kim

from South Korea. Recari missed a four foot par putt on the 18th hole that would have given her a victory at the end of regulation.

Both players bogeyed the the first playoff hole at the Aviara Golf Club, which was a replay of the 18th hole, but Recari would not be denied her first win since 2010 on this afternoon. Recari would make birdie when they played the 18th hole for the third time, and Kim would make par. Kim picked up three shot on the leader with her 71 in regulation, but it wouldn’t get her a win.

"“Well, I said I still have another chance and I was still in it, and I had a good memory from my only playoff as a professional and I won, so Andreas told me, ‘You’ve done this before and you know that green,’” said Recari. “I don’t know if it’s because of the shade, it was definitely quicker than I thought in first two attempts that I had and fortunately I read it correctly the last one and I’m just very happy.”“Well, I never thought I could play that hole again and again, but I did that,” said Kim.  “Hit good shots.  The second shot is pretty tricky and the last one I had a great chance, too.  It was the right club, but we didn’t get that wind kind of, it was kind of gusting on off and we didn’t catch that, so it came out a little short and it had a good chance but she made a good putt.”"

Beartiz Recari is ranked 45th in Rolex rankings, and Kim 21st. The number one player, Stacy Lewis, was among the leaders for a while on Sunday, but after making a birdie at the 10th hole to get to -11 under par, uncharacteristically made two double bogeys and one regular bogey in the closing holes to drop out of contention. She finished at one over par for the day, and fell into a tie for fifth.

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