South Korea’s Kim Sei-young shook off a disastrous start to win the LPGA Mediheal Championship in a playoff Sunday, beating Bronte Law and Lee6 Jeong-eun with a birdie at the first extra hole. Kim began the day with a three-shot lead at Lake Merced in Daly City, California. But she faltered early with a double-bogey at the first and a bogey at the second.
She fell to six-under for the tournament with a bogey at the eighth, and Law and Lee were in the clubhouse on 281 before Kim made her first birdie of the day at the par-five 15th to join them on seven-under.
Kim surrendered her share of the lead with a bogey from a bunker at the par-three 17th, but forced her way into the playoff with a birdie at the par-five 18th, capping a three-over 75. The trio returned to the 18th, where all three found the fairway. Lee — who uses the numeral 6 to distinguish herself from other players of the same name who played on the Korean ladies’ tour — put her second shot on the back of the green but couldn’t make birdie from there.
Law missed the green, and her third shot left her a mid-range birdie attempt which she missed. Kim’s playoff hole was almost a carbon copy of her birdie in regulation, her second shot landing just off the front of the green. Her putt from there left her a two-footer for a birdie. The playoff came hours after England’s Law had completed her bogey free 65. Her five birdies included four in a row from the ninth through the 12th. She eagled the par-five 15th, where she stuck her second shot three feet from the pin.
