Published By: Sports Desk
Last Updated: December 11, 2023, 03:30 IST
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Lydia Ko hit a fairway metallic to eight ft to arrange the birdie she and Jason Day wanted to win the Grant Thornton Invitational on Sunday. They closed with a 6under 66 in modified fourballs to seize the primary mixedteam occasion in 24 years.
NAPLES, Fla.: Lydia Ko hit a fairway metallic to eight ft to arrange the birdie she and Jason Day wanted to win the Grant Thornton Invitational on Sunday. They closed with a 6-below 66 in modified fourballs to seize the primary blended-crew occasion in 24 years.
Playing the par-5 seventeenth gap, Ko and Day have 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 straightforward up-and-down. Ko had 208 right into a slight wind and her fairway metallic by no means left its goal.
“That is so nice,” Day mentioned as Ko’s shot was within the air. It landed close to the outlet and rolled out about 8 ft. Her eagle putt by no means had an opportunity, however the onerous work was executed. Both secured straightforward pars on the 18th to complete at 26-below 190.
“It’s weird because that felt like the most stress-free win, because I knew she was going to step up in the end,” Day mentioned.
That she did, and it allowed Ko to cap off an in any other case poor yr on a successful be aware. 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 high 60 who returned as she went winless — till Sunday.
It was the primary time the PGA Tour and LPGA had a blended-crew occasion for the reason that JC Penney Classic in 1999, and gamers on each excursions spoke endlessly about trying ahead to the following one.
Conners holed out from the 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 both did a pretty good job of getting the ball in play off the tee,” Conners mentioned. “There’s a few shots we’d both like to have back throughout the day. But we fought hard and gave ourselves a lot of chances.”
They did not birdie the seventeenth when Henderson pulled her second shot properly left of the inexperienced right into a waste space, and Conners got here up wanting the inexperienced and couldn’t rise up-and-down.
Ludvig Aberg, the sensational rookie to gained 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 submit a 60 within the remaining spherical. They additionally 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).
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
