All three were mathematically eliminated from contention before teeing off on the par-5 18th hole at Dundonald Links.
That’s because Ayaka Furue, Japan’s 22-year-old reigning LPGA player of the year, came out in the fourth-to-last group, four shots off the lead after 54 holes, and orchestrated a remarkable comeback. She shot a course-record 10-under 62 – a round fueled by a run of six straight birdies starting on the sixth hole – to not only win her first LPGA title but do it convincingly, three shots to 21 below.
“I thought it would be hard to catch the top, good players,” Furue said. “But I’m very happy that I played good golf and was able to come out victorious.”
Furue nailed a total of 10 birdies and remarkably only one of those – on No. 18 – came on the par-5. During her six-birdie streak, she nearly holed mid-range shots on the par-4 eighth hole and par-3 11th hole. She then sank a 40-footer for birdie at the par-3 15th to take her first lead.
She pulled away with birdies on each of her final two holes, including from 25 feet on the par-4 17th.
“I had the right mindset: I thought I had to go low and I played really well,” Furue said. “I hit good shots. My whole game was good, and the birdies I wanted to make and needed to make, I was able to make.”
The latter group, meanwhile, combined for just 14 birdies and collectively shot 4 under. Boutier finished solo second, ahead of Cheyenne Knight and Hyo Joo Kim. Ko was T-5 and Leblanc T-8.
“I feel like I just couldn’t get things going this weekend, I’ve never really enjoyed a good run,” Ko said. “Overall, I played really well. Even the last two days, I hit a couple of not-so-good shots, but other than that, I feel like there were a lot of good things and like I said, sometimes when you get into a good rhythm of things, you can continue him.
“But I’ve never been on that train this weekend, but hopefully that’s a good momentum for next week.”
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Furue has been consistently unspectacular in her LPGA rookie season. In 15 starts before this week, she missed just two cuts but also posted just one top-10, a second-place finish at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play. Last year she won three times on the JLPGA, her home tour where she has won seven times since turning pro in 2019, before earning her LPGA card through the Q Series.
Climbing as high as 14th in the world rankings earlier this year, she had fallen to No.30, although she will make a big jump after Sunday’s important win.
“I didn’t think I would win as a rookie,” Furue said. “I am very grateful and very happy that I was able to win in a links course.”
