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Jasmine Suwannapura pared the second playoff hole to win the LPGA NW Arkansas Championship on Sunday, denying Lucy Li after a dramatic final-round duel.
Li, a 21-year-old from California seeking her first title, had an LPGA record-tying three eagles in her 11-under par 60 and led the clubhouse with a 17-under 196.
But 31-year-old Thai veteran Jasmine recovered from a mistimed tee shot to win the 72nd hole and force a playoff with a 10-under 61.
It would be more than an hour before they got back to the par-five 18th, where Jasmine’s eagle putt was an inch short and they settled for matching birdies to begin the playoff.
Back on the 18th tee, Jasmine took the lead when she found the fairway as Li hit the left rough.
Jasmine’s second shot sailed across the green and back around and with Li trying to get up and down for birdie, the Thai rolled in her eagle putt for the win.
“It’s been a long time,” said an emotional Jasmine, who won a third LPGA title but her first since the 2019 Dow Invitational pairs event. “There was a time when I thought I probably wasn’t going to anymore earn.
“But today, everything happened in the right place, at the right time.”
Li became only the seventh player to win three eagles in an LPGA Tour round.
The first was a hole at the par-four eighth, part of a flurry that saw her collect seven strokes in seven holes.
She made birdies at the fifth and seventh, then the ninth, 10th and 11th to take a share of the lead at 12 under.
It was all the more improbable as she was at the top of the leaderboard after three bogey putts at the second and fourth.
– Late magic –
“I honestly had no idea this was going to happen,” Li said. “I didn’t think I was in at all. I mean, after two three putts in the first four holes, I was like, I don’t know.
“And then the magic happened and I shot 60. Even though I didn’t win, it’s the best thing.”
She briefly took a solo lead at 14 under with an eagle at 14, where a superb second shot left her with a four-foot putt.
She made a long birdie on the green at the 15th and had a two-shot lead after her eagle at the 72nd hole.
But Jasmine, leader of the first lap, was right on his heels. After three birdies on the first nine, she kept up the pressure with birdies on holes 10, 11, 13, 14 and 16.
His chances of joining Li at the top of the leaderboard appeared to take a hit, however, when his tee shot at 18 sailed to the right and hit a cart path.
But her second shot from sparse rough left her with a five-footer for eagle and she managed to complete her 61.
“Somehow it went straight, right at the pin,” she said.
South Korea’s Kim Sei-young scored a 6-under 63 for his solo third-place finish on 197.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai, leader of the day, and Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol were both within reach on the back nine.
But Yubol’s challenge faded with a bogey at the course’s easiest hole, the 14th, where she hit her tee shot into the hazard to the left of the fairway.
She finished with a 66 to share fourth place with Japan’s Mao Saigo on 199, while Buhai’s 69 left her in solo sixth on 200.
bb/sev
