Minjee Lee played a magnificent approach shot on the second playoff hole to defeat Charley Hull and win the Kroger Queen City Championship on Sunday in Cincinnati.
The Australian shot a final-round 71 to finish 16-under 272 through 72 holes at Kenwood Country Club. Hull, from England, posted a 69 to match Lee and ensure a playoff.
Both women replayed the par-4 18th hole and made par. On their second time down the 18th, Hull’s approach landed neatly on the green, but Lee followed by blasting out of the rough, her shot bouncing up onto the green and nestling about 3 feet away from the cup.
Hull missed her birdie putt and Lee tapped in her birdie, winning her first LPGA title since the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open.
Lee said she was looking for a strong finish in her last tournament in the United States before she returns in November for the CME Group Tour Championship.
“Resetting your goals is always hard after a really amazing year,” Lee told the Golf Channel broadcast. “I felt like I could really reset well here, and then have a great Asia (swing) and CME.”
Lee held a two-stroke lead after 54 holes and birdied the second, seventh and eighth holes Sunday to move to 18 under. But a costly double bogey at the par-5 12th brought her back down to the pack.
She parred the six remaining holes, allowing Hull to catch her with three straight birdies at Nos. 14-16.
“I think I had a few moments where I was like, I really felt like I was losing, but I wasn’t,” Lee said. “The score was, we were pretty much tied. I was like, ‘Let’s just play till the end and see where it ends up.’ So I didn’t give up, I just played every shot to the best I could.”
China’s Ruoning Yin posted a 67 to finish third at 14 under. Ally Ewing, who won last year’s inaugural edition of the tournament, placed fourth this year at 12 under after a final-round 66.
A large tie for fifth at 11 under featured Mel Reid of England (66 Sunday), Mi Hyang Lee of South Korea (67), Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand (71), Japan’s Yuka Saso (72), Swizterland’s Morgane Metraux (73) and Peiyun Chien of Taiwan (74).
–Field Level Media
