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Grace Kim Wins Maiden LPGA Major in Playoff With Improbable Final Three Holes

The 24-year-old Aussie, feeling under the weather, edged world No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul in a playoff at the Amundi Evian Championship by finishing eagle-birdie-eagle, including a hole-out.

Max Schreiber

Grace Kim won her first major with a dramatic closing stretch.
Grace Kim won her first major with a dramatic closing stretch. / Paul Devlin/Getty Images

In less than an hour, Grace Kim hit perhaps three of the best major championship-clinching shots ever. 

And making matters even more impressive, she claimed her maiden major title, finishing eagle-birdie-eagle, under the weather. 

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“I couldn’t breathe,” Kim said on the 18th green when asked how she kept her composure. “I couldn’t really see. I was like, ‘is it dead straight?’ Yeah. I’m hitting the putt. Glad it went in the hole.”

In the final round of the France’s Amundi Evian Championship, the LPGA’s fourth major of the season, the 24-year-old Aussie began her 72nd hole two back of world No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul’s lead. 

Kim hit her drive safely in the fairway shot and then stuck her approach shot on the closing par-5 with a 4-hybrid from 188 yards for a tap-in eagle to tie the lead at 14 under par. Thitikul, meanwhile, had a birdie putt from just outside 10 feet for the win, but couldn’t get it to drop. 

So a sudden-death playoff ensued. 

Playing Evian Golf Club’s par-5 18th again, it appeared Kim’s victory hopes were dashed when she splashed her approach (again with a 4-hybrid) and was forced to take a drop. But that set up the shot of a lifetime in which the world No. 99 holed out for birdie. Thitikul, though, got up and down from the rough adjacent to the green to extend the playoff. 

“I wasn’t worried,” Kim said. “Dropped the ball and it kind of ended up in a pretty decent lie and just wanted to make sure I got it there. Yeah, just happened to have chipped it in. I don’t know if I can do it again. That was great.”

And the third time would be a charm for Kim. 

For the final time with the same club, which “will be staying in the bag,” Kim placed her second shot on the 18th green roughly 10 feet from the hole, while Thitikul found the bunker. Kim then sank her putt for the victory. 

“I doubled [hole No.] 12 and I thought I was out of it,” said Kim, whose only other LPGA win is the 2023 Lotte Championship. “I said to myself and to my caddie, ‘I’ve got nothing else to lose. Yeah, that chip-in, yeah, don’t know. That just happened.”

Though Thitikul had a prime opportunity to win a major finally, the 22-year-old Thai isn’t kicking herself for how the tournament played out. 

“Overall, like so proud of I can do it,” she said. “I can overcome it. And then hopefully a lot better chance in the future.”

It wasn’t that Thitikul collapsed, she just fell victim to one of the clutchest final three-hole stretches in golf history. 

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Max Schreiber
MAX SCHREIBER

Max Schreiber is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, covering golf. Before joining SI in October 2024, the Mahwah, N.J., native, worked as an associate editor for the Golf Channel and wrote for RyderCup.com and FanSided. He is a multiplatform producer for Newsday and has a bachelor's in communications and journalism from Quinnipiac University. In his free time, you can find him doing anything regarding the Yankees, Giants, Knicks and Islanders.

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