LPGA Tour: Sei Young Kim Scores 3-Stroke Win at Pelican Championship | Golf news

World No. 2 Kim turns her overnight lead into her 12th career victory on the LPGA Tour, her first outing since winning her first major at the Women’s PGA Championship.

Sei Young Kim has won in consecutive starts

Sei Young Kim claimed her second title in six weeks with a comfortable three-shot win at the Pelican Women’s Championship in Florida.

Kim’s par 70 was enough to win her 12th LPGA Tour title in her first start since capturing her first major title at the KMPG PGA Women’s Championship last month.

His dominant five-shot lead overnight remained intact for much of the final day, as none of his closest rivals were able to sustain a prominent challenge over the final 18 holes at the picturesque Pelican Golf Club.

Kim 70’s final round was enough for his twelfth LPGA title

A birdie in the first was offset by a rare bogey in the next, though Kim expired in the sixth when Ally McDonald hit back from an early spot with a three-birdy streak over four holes that simply reduced the deficit to four shots.

Kim offered McDonald and Stephanie Meadow a glimmer of hope when he bogeyed in the ninth, but McDonald’s birdie putts dried up while Meadow had left a mountain to climb when he bogeyed the first two holes.

Meadow responded with birdies on the sixth, seventh and 10th before another error at 12 made the job even easier for Kim, who found his five-shot lead regained when he birdied at length 14 and McDonald bogey on the 16.

Stephanie Meadow was placed second by Ally McDonald

Northern Ireland star Meadow tied at McDonald’s level with birdies at 15-17, but Meadow bungled another shot at last when the American birdied to cap a 68 and finish 11 under.

Kim’s margin of victory was reduced to three when she finished with a bogey, but it mattered little as she became the first player since Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016 to win her first major and then win her first event immediately thereafter.

“I was just trying to feel the same as my last tournament,” said the world number 2. “So I played very well and it felt very good. When I walked the field today, there was really no pressure.

“But in the last nine my feeling was not good, and Ally was doing really well. It could be that she was chasing me, that was my thought. So when I turned around I was under a bit of pressure before making the birdie at 14 .

“After I made that birdie, it was a little more comfortable and then I felt back, I had a good feeling back.”