Mi Hyang Lee stuffed her 3-hybrid approach shot from 190-yards on the fifth playoff hole to tap-in range for a birdie and victory at the Mizuno Classic.
“It was my first playoff ever so before I started the playoff I was a little nervous,” Lee admitted. “I just kept playing and made pars and birdies and the other players played really good. It was exciting when I made the last putt.”
Lee, who becomes the seventh Rolex First Time Winner on the LPGA this season, outlasted past LPGA winner Ilhee Lee and Kotono Kozuma of the JLPGA to claim the win.
“I won on the LET in February in New Zealand and that gave me a lot of confidence,” Mi Hyang Lee explained. “It’s pretty quick, this is only my second year out here. I think every tournament is a good experience for me and today was pretty great for me because I didn’t think I could win this tour- nament yet.”
The trio pared the first two playoff holes before an exciting third playoff hole saw all three competitors make long birdie putts with the shortest being Mi Hyang Lee’s at 25 feet to keep the three-person playoff rolling.
“My caddie said you can make it because you saw the line on Kotono’s putt and that gave me confidence that I could make it,” Mi Hyang said. “I hit it confident and tried to make it but I didn’t think that I could make that putt so it was amazing. If I didn’t make it I think it would have gone past by two yards so there was some luck.”
The group exchanged pars again on the 4th playoff hole before Mi Hyang delivered the dagger 3-hybrid and tapped in for her victory.
The celebration will be short for Mi Hyang however as she is off to Mexico on Monday morning for the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, her seventh tournament in the past seven weeks.
“I have two more tournaments. I just want to keep playing,” Mi Hyang said. “If I keep playing well, I’ll qualify for all of the Majors maybe so I want to keep playing. I have a lot of confidence now that I won an LPGA Tournament.”
The trio went into the playoff tied at 11-under, 205, a stroke clear of a group of nine players who finished at 10-under, including Karrie Webb, Dame Laura Davies, Morgan Pressel and Jessica Korda.