PORTLAND, Ore. — In a 12 months of getting to bounce again, Andrea Lee recovered from two early bogeys and pulled away with 5 birdies on the again 9 Sunday to shut with a 6-under 66 and win the AmazingCre Portland Traditional for her first LPGA Tour title.
Lee took the lead for good with an 18-foot birdie putt on the sixteenth gap after which hit an outstanding bunker shot from left of the seventeenth inexperienced to avoid wasting par and preserve a two-shot lead.
She was in the course of the 18th fairway when she watched Daniela Darquea of Ecuador end with a 3rd straight birdie for a 66 to tug inside one shot. Lee drilled her strategy to fifteen ft and lagged her putt to inside inches to faucet in for the win.
It was fairly a turnaround for Lee, a former No. 1 beginner from Stanford whose recreation acquired off observe to the purpose her LPGA standing suffered and he or she began the 12 months on the developmental Epson Tour.
After which she climbed her approach out of it, profitable on the Epson Tour, profiting from sponsor exemptions with stable play and eventually cashing in at Columbia Edgewater Nation Membership for her first win.
Her face was awash in a mix of champagne and tears, particularly when she paid tribute to her grandfather, who died late final 12 months.
“He at all times believed I used to be a champion, and in the present day I’m one,” Lee mentioned.
This took an excessive amount of persistence and resilience with eight gamers having an opportunity to win all through the ultimate spherical and each mistake seemingly magnified.
Lee began in a three-way tie with Lilia Vu, one other former No. 1 beginner at UCLA, and Ayaka Furue of Japan. Lee instantly fell off the tempo with bogeys on the second and third holes.
“I informed myself to remain affected person as a result of I nonetheless had quite a lot of golf left,” Lee mentioned. “I managed to get three birdies again, after which I saved going.”
She completed at 19-under 269 and moved to No. 18 within the Race to CME Globe
Darquea’s runner-up end moved her to No. 59, an enormous week as a result of the highest 60 advance to the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in November. Darquea had been ranked No. 108 going into Portland.
The true menace to Lee got here from Esther Henseleit of Germany, who took the lead with an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-3 thirteenth. She had a 6-foot birdie strive on the subsequent gap that caught the lip however did not drop, and he or she traded birdies with Lee alongside the again 9.
Henseleit was one shot behind when she got here up wanting the seventeenth inexperienced, pitched about 12 ft lengthy and missed her par putt to fall two again.
She completed with a par for a 66 and tied for third with Narin An (64), Hannah Inexperienced (67), Furue (68) and Vu (68).
Maja Stark of Sweden, who earned her LPGA card by profitable the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Eire, ran off 5 straight birdies on the entrance 9 and was among the many leaders till she ran out of steam. She shot 66 and completed eighth.
Lee turns into the ninth first-time winner on the LPGA Tour this 12 months.
“It is greater than something I might have imagined,” she mentioned. “I can not imagine it, truly. I can not imagine I am standing right here after what I went by means of final 12 months.”
Lee gained eight instances at Stanford and gained the Mark H. McCormack medal in 2019 because the main beginner in ladies’s golf. However her confidence took a success throughout first her two years on the LPGA Tour, which included the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
It felt like beginning over in the beginning of the 12 months, main her to the place she thought she at all times thought she can be.
