Birthday girl Minjee Lee celebrates with LPGA Volvik win
Minjee Lee rings in 22nd birthday in style with a one-shot win at the LPGA Volvik Championship.
Minjee Lee gave herself the perfect present for her 22nd birthday Sunday. The Aussie birdied the 72nd hole to win the LPGA Volvik Championship by one shot over I.K. Kim.
Lee shot a four-under 68 at Travis Pointe Country Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan to finish at 16 under. It is her fourth career LPGA title.
“I started off pretty solid, so I think I made three birdies on the front nine and I just pretty much was pretty steady until the end,” she said. “Overall I had a really solid day. I think I was striking it well and putting it pretty well.”
Lee came into the final round holding a two-shot lead over four players, including Kim. She started aggressively with three birdies on her first five holes. Kim, meanwhile, had her own hot streak. She made five birdies in a seven-hole stretch in the middle of her round to tie Lee. A bogey at the 15th, however, seemed to derail her chances.
At the 17th Lee gave Kim another chance. She failed to make a six-foot putt to save par, and suddenly the two were tied again.
“I didn’t really hit a good shot in. So I just was like try to two putt. i think I had like 50 feet or something,” Lee said. “I hit a pretty good putt but it just went about six feet by and I missed the putt coming back. I pretty much then I knew I had to birdie the last hole. I just gave it my best shot.”
Lee now had to birdie the 18th to avoid a playoff and hit two solid shots to get by the green on the 548-yard par-five. She was able to get down from there and seal the victory.
“I had a five-iron in but I sort of had to cut it around the tree. I overcut it a little bit and I was lucky not to clip the very top end of the tree. I had a pretty easy chip shot after that shot.”
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Lee has had a consistent year on the LPGA Tour. Coming into this week she had five top-10 finishes in her 10 events. But a win continued to elude her. Last month, she lost a playoff to Lydia Ko at the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship when Ko nearly made a double eagle on the first extra hole. Her last win came in 2016.
“I’ve been playing pretty solid the whole year, and it’s just nice to have a win,” she said.
The second-place finish was a welcome sign for Kim. Last season she won three events, but this was her best showing this year.
“I’m still trying out a few things. Everything’s coming along … and I feel like it’s been a lot of grinding, so it’s really nice to have some kind of assurance,” she told LPGA.com.
One of the players tied for second coming into the final round was Stacy Lewis. Lewis finished tied for seventh, despite being four months pregnant with her first child. She plans to continue playing until July.
The LPGA heads into the second Major Championship of the season next week with the U.S. Open at Shoal Creek in Alabama. Lee isn’t looking too far ahead, however.
“I take every week as it comes. and try to prepare for that very first shot I have each week. I’ll go there and check out the golf course, and hopefully have a good week too,” she said.