Lexi Thompson displayed nerves of steel during the final round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational as she sank a 5-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to clinch her second LPGA Tour victory this season.
Lexi Thompson displayed nerves of steel during the final round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational as she sank a birdie putt on the 72nd hole to clinch her second LPGA Tour victory this season. The Floridian fired rounds of 72, 64,67 and 69 to claim a one-stroke victory over Stacy Lewis.
It was head-to-head battle between Thompson and Lewis throughout the majority of Sunday’s final round. After both players made the turn at 2-under-par for the day, Lewis dropped three strokes behind Thompson with a bogey at the par-4 12th.
Despite the untimely bogey, Lewis quickly recovered with back-to-back birdies at the par-4 12th and par-3 13th to pull even with Thompson. The string of birdies would continue for Lewis at the par-4 14th and for the first time this week, she found herself atop the leaderboard by one stroke.
While Lewis quickly made her way to the top of the leaderboard, she saw her lead dwindle with a bogey at the par-3 17th to drop into a tie with Thompson.
“Stacy is an amazing player,” said Thompson. “I knew she could make a run at me anytime during that round. When she made the two shot swing on me, I think on number 12, it brought it back to all squared. I knew I had to make birdies on top of her because she gets on a roll and she doesn’t stop. She’s an amazing player and played great today.”
Both players headed into the par-5 18th at 15-under par and left themselves with knee knocking birdie putts for the victory.
First to play, Thompson calmly rolled in her birdie putt while Lewis’ putt skimmed the edge giving the young 18-year-old her third career LPGA Tour win.
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