BELLEAIR, Fla. (AP) — Lindy Duncan finally celebrated an LPGA Tour victory on her 222nd attempt, delivering two key shots that led to birdies down the stretch for a 3-under 67 and pulling away from winless Hye-Jin Choi to win The Annika on Sunday.
Duncan tapped in a 4-foot par putt on the final hole, and there was a long line of LPGA players waited to douse water on a player who has endeared herself over the years for her remarkable perseverance amid
a battle of self-doubts.
Duncan, 35, is the oldest first-time winner on the LPGA since Leta Lindley was 36 when she won the Corning Classic in 2008.
“I have so many people to thank that believed in me when I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep playing of if I was good enough to keep playing,” Duncan said. “To be here, I'm completely shocked.”
She finished at 16-under 264, two shots ahead of Choi (68) who had to settle for her third runner-up finish in her last three tournaments. Choi has gone 127 starts on the LPGA without winning.
Duncan began the week with a birdie-birdie-eagle start, making a hole-in-one on the third hole at Pelican Golf Club. Far more important was her finish on a gorgeous day in the Tampa Bay area.
She fell two shots behind when Choi birdied the 11th and Duncan's shot into the par-3 12th rolled back off the severe slope and into the water. But she hit wedge to 4 feet from the drop zone to salvage a bogey.
Choi had a three-putt bogey from 50 feet at the front of the green on the 13th, and two holes later, the hard-luck South Korean went long of the par-3 15th, chipped from beyond the green and had to scramble for bogey to fall into a tie.
Duncan took over from there with two shots she won't soon forget.
Her approach to the 16th was well right of the pin and went up the back slope, narrowly missing a sprinkler head and rolling back down a slope to six feet for birdie and a one-shot lead. She drove into a bunker on the 17th and faced a shot to a pin just beyond a deep bunker. It came out beautifully to 20 feet and Duncan holed that birdie and took a two-shot lead.
Duncan had played the last five LPGA tournament over a six-week stretch, starting in Hawaii and then going Shanghai to South Korea to Malaysia to Japan and then onto Florida.
She thinks that might have contributed to finally getting across the line.
“It was a combination of playing a lot,” she said. “My game was in a good spot, and I was so tired I just let myself go. I put so much pressure on myself. Sometimes you just overtry. This week I let that got a little bit.”
It was a great time for a great week. Duncan was at No. 74 in the Race to CME Globe, and the victory moved her to No. 34 and among the top 60 who qualify for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship next week in Naples, where the winner gets $2 million.
“You never know when it’s going to turn around for you,” Duncan said. “Keep working on the right things and anything is possible.”
Haeran Ryu (66) and Yuri Yoshida (68) tied for third. Julia Lopez Ramirez (67) finished fifth, good enough for the young Spaniard to move into the top 60 and advance.
Nelly Korda, playing for the first time in two months, closed with a 67 and finished seventh, six shots behind. Korda needs one more win to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, her next chance coming in the season finale in Naples.
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