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You don’t shoot 75-75 on the weekend of a major championship very often and still hold a trophy at the end of the week. That’s exactly what In Gee Chun did at this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, though, as she took the third major of her career by a stroke over Lexi Thompson and Minjee Lee, who was looking for a second consecutive women’s major.
Chun shot 64-69 in the first two rounds to race out to 11 under at the halfway point. The crown jewel of that performance was a Thursday 64 that was nearly 12 strokes better than the field average, which was not only the best round at this tournament over the last decade but one of the great rounds in professional golf this century.
Chun led by six at the halfway point, which seemed like an insurmountable number given recent history, both at women’s major championships as well as this specific tournament and its setup.
Then the weekend unfurled, and Chun started slipping. She still led by three, though, as the final round started. She was grouped with Lexi Thompson and H.J. Choi in the final round of the week at a revamped Congressional Country Club, where the last major champion was Rory McIlroy in 2011 at the U.S. Open. For most of the week, this felt like a reboot of that romp.
Chun went out in 40, though, and playing partner Thompson took hold of the tournament. When they walked to the 14th tee box, Thompson led Chun by a pair and at 6 under was clear of the rest of the field as well. That’s when Thompson’s demons disclosed themselves. She bogeyed three of her last five holes with a handful of strokes that looked like they were manufactured under the duress of an earthquake.
Thompson made two horrific stabs at putts from short distance and made bogey at the par-5 16th. She was greenside in two, but hit a panicked-looking chip over the green and motored a putt 15 feet past the hole coming back the other way to give herself 15…
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Source : cbssports
