Minjee Lee Storms Back From 7-Shot Deficit to Win Evian Championship, First Career Major
Jeongeun Lee6 made history at The Amundi Evian Championship on Friday by shooting a 61 that matched the lowest-ever round in major. She took a five-shot lead into Sunday. This was very clearly her major to lose.
And lose it she did, although Minjee Lee, who won her first major on Sunday after nearly eight years of attempts, can argue that thanks to her own spectacular final round that she, in fact, won it.
Lee shot a 7-under 64 Sunday in Evians-Les-Bains, France, highlighted by four birdies in five holes to close out her round, and topped Lee6 in a playoff for her first major victory.
“I'm speechless. I been waiting for this for so long. It just feels unreal to have won,” Lee said. “Just even in the playoff, and all throughout today, I played really well to get myself in that position, and I’m just really happy.”
Lee, considered one of the best golfers on the LPGA Tour without a major title, continued a streak of first-time winners of golf’s biggest events. With Lee’s win, the last nine majors on the LPGA Tour have been won by first-timers (and 14 of the last 15).
Lee overcame a seven-shot deficit when she teed off Sunday, which tied the record for the largest come-from-behind victory in LPGA major championship history.
“I think I saw the leaderboard maybe once or twice,” said Lee, who didn’t make a bogey in her final 29 holes of the championship, including the playoff. “Just tried to play to the best of my ability, and it's really great to win a major. It's just really amazing.”
Lee will represent Australia at the Olympics in two weeks (she finished tied for seventh at the Rio 2016 Games) and she is the fourth woman’s major winner from Australia, along with Hannah Green, Jan Stephenson and Karrie Webb. She called those women who came before her “amazing people and amazing golfers, too.”
Despite a birdie on the opening hole, Lee6 went out in 4-over 39 after five bogeys in her first nine holes. But the one-time major winner showed resilience and grit as she made the turn. She birdied Nos. 16 and 17 and had a chance to win outright on 18 with an eagle attempt.
It slid by, but a third birdie in a row to end the championship got her into a playoff alongside Lee.
“I just feel no good. But I tried my best, but result is no good,” Lee6 said of her first nine holes. “But back nine it was a new nine, so I kept (saying) ‘I could do it, yeah, I could make it.’
Still, this was Lee6’s seventh career major championship top-10 result, with six of those results inside the top six.
American Yealimi Noh, who will turn 20 on July 26, had a chance to make the playoff a three-way affair but couldn’t convert a birdie on the 72nd hole, a par 5. She finished third.
The round of the day belonged to Leona Maguire of Ireland, who matched Lee6’s 61 score from Friday with her own record-tying run on Sunday.
Maguire, who birdied her final four holes to put a bow on her 10-under effort, has not finished outside the top-15 in any of her last five tournaments including The Evian Championship.
“Going out early you're just trying to post a good number and see what happens,” Maguire said. “I didn't think we would be even considering anything at this point, but we saw (Lee6) do it the other day and it is possible.”
For Lee, it’s been a lot of wondering about when she would be able to take a big one across the finish line, as she had lost two previous major-championship playoffs. But this day belonged to her, and, finally, the title of major champion.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform, and I hear so many people say, ‘We really want to you win a major, and a major is just around the corner.’ It's easier said than done, and everybody is so good out here,” Lee said. “It's just really nice to have a major title under my belt.”