South Korea’s Ryu So-Yeon held off compatriot Choi Na-Yeon on Sunday to capture the Canadian Women’s Open, snapping an LPGA win drought of more than two years.
Ninth-ranked Ryu, the 2011 US Women’s Open champion whose only other prior LPGA crown came at the 2012 Toledo Classic, matched the season-low LPGA 72-hole total of 23-under par, finishing on 265 to defeat Choi by two shots.
Ryu fired a final-round 69, three-under par, to collect a wire-to-wire triumph but only after Choi closed within one stroke with three holes to play. A final six-foot birdie putt at 16 produced Ryu’s final margin of victory.
“I did trust myself,” Ryu said. “I didn’t care about anybody else. I focused on my game. I wasn’t playing my best game on the back nine but I just kept through it.
“Hole 16 was a really big hole. I was sure if I made (the birdie putt) I was going to win it. I was really happy I made it.”
Ryu, 24, had 27 top-10 finishes since her prior victory, 10 of them last season and nine more this year.
