The eagle putt doesn’t drop, but Minjee Lee cares not a jot! Finally, the Aussie rules at a major championship!
16:50
Jeongeun Lee6’s par putt stays high on the left. Bogey, and so Minjee Lee will have three putts for the Evian Championship!
16:48
Jeongeun Lee6 wedges onto the green, but she’ll be putting for par from 15 feet before Minjee Lee has a look at eagle from half the distance. This is over, and Lee, who will have two putts for the title, allows herself a smile. After all the waiting, she’s going to make it at last!
16:46
Oh this is awful to see. Jeongeun Lee6 hits her iron thin. She peers after it with pleading eyes, holding onto hope for a split second. Then her face falls, and her head bows, as it lands in the reeds at the front of the green and splashes into the water. What a heartbreaking end to her fine fightback. She’ll most likely need a miracle chip-in now.
Updated
16:44
Minjee Lee with a 6-iron from 190 yards. She plays one of the shots of her life, creaming it straight at the flag, landing softly on the front of the green, the ball rolling pin high to six feet! What a chance for eagle! The pressure is piled onto Jeongeun Lee6.
16:41
Jeongeun Lee6 responds with an almost identical drive. A little down the left, the camber of the fairway bringing it into the middle. She’s a good 20 yards longer than her opponent. Meanwhile a fun fact from the dude at NBC: these two players were born one day apart in May 1996. For the record, Minjee is the older of the pair.
16:38
Minjee Lee has today’s low score after her round of 64, so it’s her honour. She sent her tee shot into the trees down the left earlier, but there’s no such drama this time. She cracks one down the middle.
16:37
It’s a sudden-death play-off. Both players are transported back to the 18th tee by buggy. Some fun and games coming up! Jeongeun Lee6 has birdied the hole every day; Minjee Lee has made three birdies and, on Friday, an eagle. Anything can happen here, and probably will. Here we go!
16:35
That’s some comeback by Jeongeun Lee6. More accurately, it was some collapse on the front nine, then it was some comeback coming home. And they call football a game of two halves. Both players will therefore be feeling rather good for contrasting reasons: Lee6 after a successful salvage job, Minjee Lee after her wonderful blemish-free round of 64. Play-off coming up!
Jeongeun Lee6 tidies up, and it’s an eventful level-par 71! Out in 39, back in 32, with birdies on the final three holes to force a play-off with Minjee Lee!
16:30
It’s so close but so far for Yealimi Noh, whose birdie putt from eight feet slips by. A final round of 67, and ultimately that wayward drive cost her. She won’t be celebrating her 20th birthday tomorrow with the Evian trophy, but once the sting subsides, she’ll celebrate the greatest week of her young career and build from there. A bittersweet smile. What a performance! What a prospect.
16:27
Jeongeun Lee6 has a downhill 20-foot eagle putt for the win. She’s not going to die wondering, and gives it a good run. It’s never turning back enough from the right and rolls three feet past. Still some work to do if she’s to salvage a place in a play-off, and she’s missed a shorter one today.
16:25
Lydia Ko up first. She slots her fairly straight eagle putt away without fuss, and it’s a final-day 70 for the 2015 champion. On the putting green, Minjee Lee hears the eagle-volume roar and, unsure of what’s just happened, starts chomping on her nails. No need to worry … yet.
16:23
Noh is left with a 90-yard approach. She sends her wedge over the flag. For a second, it looks as though her ball will roll into the bunker behind the green, but it bites on the apron and spins back. She’ll have an uphill look at birdie from eight feet. What a climax we have here!
Updated
16:21
Lee6 takes a 7-iron from the centre of the fairway. She sends her approach pin high. She’ll have a 20-foot look at an eagle that’d secure the title! Whatever happens, this is some comeback after the view-through-fingers collapse of the front nine.
16:19
Ko, with nothing to play for in terms of the title, takes a shy at the green from the rough. She makes it over the water – just – and could sell that shot and outcome to either of her partners for a few pennies. Noh declines to follow her lead, and wedges out. She’ll need to get up and down from distance to make birdie and force a play-off.
16:15
Lee6 splits the fairway with her drive. Noh sends hers into the second cut down the right. She might have to lay up from there, as may Lydia Ko, who has never really got going today, and is currently one over for her round, -11 overall.
16:12
Both Noh and Lee6 have birdied this hole every time they’ve played it this week. A first par would be so painful; a first eagle would most likely win it. Birdie would book a place in a play-off.
16:11
Jeongeun Lee6 is left with a tricky left-to-right downhill slider. But she steers it in for birdie. This is such a staunch response to that front-nine collapse; since the turn, Lee6 is three under. She’s back to within a shot … as is Yealimi Noh, who makes no mistake with her shorter birdie putt. What a denouement we have here!
-18: Lee (F) -17: Noh (17), Lee6 (17)
16:07
Birdie for Ayaka Furue on 18. She’s back in 32, signing for a 67. She’s the new clubhouse leader for less than a minute, as Minjee Lee rolls in her birdie putt! She’s signing for a flawless 64, having birdied four of the last five holes! Is Lee about to win that elusive first major? It’s up to Yealimi and Jeongeun Lee6.
Minjee Lee has left herself a 110-yard approach. She sends it screeching to a halt, 12 feet from the flag. A good look at a potentially title-clinching victory coming up. Mind you, Jeongeun Lee6 and Yealimi Noh may have a thing or two to say about that: they send gorgeous wedges into 17, Lee6 landing hers eight feet away, Noh about half that! Some astonishing golf under extreme pressure right here, right now.
15:57
Minjee Lee, under the branches down the left of 18, takes her medicine and punches out. Back on 17, Jeonguen Lee6 and Yealimi Noh take turns to find the fairway with their drives.
15:55
Yealimi Noh’s birdie putt at 16 stays high on the right. She remains one off Minjee Lee’s lead … and she’s joined there by playing partner Jeongeun Lee6, who curls in a gentle downhill right-to-left birdie putt. The overnight leader, who most expected to be mid-procession right now, is back in this! And it’s far from over, because up on 18, the leader Lee has just hooked her drive into trees down the left. It is all happening.
-17: Lee (17) -16: Noh (16), Lee6 (16)
15:50
Lee makes it! She steers in a big right-to-left breaker to save her par, and the current Best Player Never To Win A Major remains one clear as she heads to the par-five 18th … a hole that’s been giving up its fair share of eagles today.
Good news: it doesn’t look as though being put on the clock has affected the final group too much. Yealimi Noh and Jeongeun Lee6 both whip their tee shots at 16 to six feet, and will have super looks at birdie. Meanwhile up on 17, Minjee Lee zips a ludicrously fast long birdie attempt ten feet past the hole. Big par putt coming up.
15:45
Jeongeun Lee6, approaching the last-chance saloon with extreme prejudice, digs deep to salvage her par. She’s hanging on in there. Then Yealimi Noh shoves a short birdie effort wide right. She walks off looking fairly miserable, and no wonder: this final group has fallen more than a hole behind, and has been put on the clock. Noh was fined $10,000 in March for slow play at the Kia Classic, a punishment she considered unjust; this latest censure has come at exactly the wrong time as she battles to win her maiden major.
15:39
A potentially dream-shattering sand shot by Jeongeun Lee6 at the par-five 15th. Hitting three out of a greenside bunker, she doesn’t commit, and her ball only just pops out before toppling down a swale. Her chip up is heavy handed, and she’s left with an eight-footer to save her par. Meanwhile it’s par for Lydia Ko.
15:35
Closing birdie for the exciting 18-year-old Thai, Atthaya Thitikul. She signs for a 65, and is the new clubhouse leader at -14. She left a couple of shots out there on the greens, too. Back on 16, Ayaka Furue sends a tramliner into the cup for a second birdie in ta row, while her playing partner Minjee Lee leaps into the lead after sticking her tee shot to six feet and making the putt. This, it’s fair to say, is heating up nicely.
-17: Lee (16) -16: Noh (14) -15: Lee6 (14) -14: Thitikul (F), Furue (16) -13: Maguire (F), Hall (F), Ko (14)
15:26
Minjee Lee can’t quite reach the par-five 15th in two, but gets up and down to birdie anyway. She grabs back a share of the lead. Birdie too at 15 for the Japanese debutant Ayaka Furue, who has been quietly hanging around at the fringes, but is now making a belated move. Meanwhile it’s pars all round for the final group at 14. Lee6 in particular was unfortunate not to make her birdie putt.
-16: Lee (15), Noh (14) -15: Lee6 (14) -13: Maguire (F), Hall (F), Thitikul (17), Furue (15), Ko (14)
15:16
Lee6 and Ko take turns to use the bank to the left of the par-three 14th to guide their ball towards the flag. Ko gets the friendlier, softer bounce, her tee shot ending up 12 feet from the cup. Lee6 will have a much longer look at birdie. Noh sends her tee shot over the flag, 20 feet past.
15:12
Yealimi Noh reclaims sole ownership of the lead by caressing a wedge at 13 to six feet, then calmly slotting the putt into the centre of the cup. As easy and fuss-free as that. Pars for her partners. Birdie meanwhile for Atthaya Thitikul on 17, who has passed up some chances recently, and should be at least two strokes better off. Too little, too late?
-16: Noh (13) -15: Lee (14), Lee6 (13) -13: Maguire (F), Hall (F), Thitikul (17), Ko (13)
15:03
Having three-putted the 15th, Atthaya Thitikul pulls her short birdie putt at 16. The flag stick costing the young Thai a fair few quid here. She remains at -12. We’d given her that. But a putt finally drops for Minjee Lee, who sends her tee shot at 14 to 12 feet, and knocks the putt in for a tie of the lead!
-15: Lee (14), Noh (12), Lee6 (12) -13: Maguire (F), Hall (F), Ko (12) -12: Thitikul (16), Furue (14)
15:00
Georgia Hall makes her eagle on 18! Two fine strokes into the heart of the par-five, then a 25-footer poured into the centre of the cup. The former British Open champion ends the week with a 64, and she’s currently tied for the clubhouse lead with Ms 61, the record-equalling Leona Maguire. Good luck picking a winner out of this lot!
-15: Noh (12), Lee6 (12) -14: Lee (14) -13: Maguire (F), Hall (F), Ko (12)
14:57
Jeongeun Lee6 takes advantage of her good fortune at 12. Having been lucky to find the fairway, a friendly bounce cancelling out an errant drive, she wedges to 12 feet, then knocks in the putt. A desperately needed birdie. She clenches her fist in determined celebration, punching the air a couple of times before bumping it with her caddy. Lydia Ko is pretty pleased with her par, meanwhile, getting up and down from a swale front-left of the green.
-15: Noh (12), Lee6 (12) -14: Lee (13)
14:52
Minjee Lee lets yet another birdie opportunity pass her by. To be fair, this putt came the closest of the lot, stopping the width of a dimple short. But she remains one off at -14. Soon to be one behind: Atthaya Thitikul, who responds to that deflating par on 15, having putted for eagle, by swishing her tee shot at 16 to kick-in distance. She’ll move to -13.
14:50
Minjee Lee sends her approach at 13 pin high. She’ll have a look at birdie from ten feet. She really needs to make one, having passed up very similar opportunities at 10, 11 and 12. Getting past the -14 mark is proving troublesome for the 25-year-old Aussie. Meanwhile a disappointing three-putt par for Atthaya Thitikul at 15. She remains at -12, having harboured dreams of moving to within a shot of Yealimi Noh’s lead.
14:43
A huge stroke of luck for Lydia Ko on 12. She sends a potentially disastrous hook towards the boundary fence down the left. Her ball hits a tree and drops before going OB. A little break for Jeongeun Lee6 too, as she sends her drive into the rough down the left, only for her ball to skip out and back onto the short stuff. Her yardage book and card fell out of her pocket mid-swing, incidentally, crashing to the floor like a hackneyed metaphor. Noh splits the fairway.
14:38
Jeongeun Lee6 birdied 11 on Thursday and Friday. She holed out from the fairway for eagle yesterday. But the luck’s not with her today. She fires her approach straight at the flag, but the ball bites hard and spins 20 feet away. Her birdie putt then stops one dimple short. She drops her head in anguish, but at least this is a world away from that horror showing on the front nine. Pars for Ko and the leader Noh.
14:34
Another birdie for Georgia Hall, this time at 17. If she wants a share of Leona Maguire’s clubhouse lead, she’ll need an eagle up the last. Perfectly possible.
14:27
Atthaya Thitikul can’t make her birdie on 14. She remains at -12. It was a hole birdied a few moments earlier by Georgia Hall, who is shaping up for a strong finish. The 2018 British Open champion is currently -10 with the final two holes to play.
14:24
Lee6 can’t make her birdie putt on 10. A little bit disappointing, but she’d have surely grabbed par with both hands when observing her drive whistling towards the trees. Ko pars as well. Things are getting real.
-15: Noh (10) -14: Lee (11), Lee6 (10) -13: Maguire (F), Ko (10) -12: Furue (11), Thitikul (13) -11: Chun (12)
14:22
Noh isn’t the only teenager fighting for the title. The 18-year-old Thai, Atthaya Thitikul, is right in the hunt, and she rolls in a 20-footer on 13 for a birdie that brings her to within two of the lead. She’s -13, and looking good for another at the par-three 14th, having fired her tee shot to 12 feet.
14:20
A nerve-settling wedge into 10 for Lee6. Having wriggled out of trouble, she fist-bumps her caddy. Sometimes the smallest things can turn things around. Goodness knows she needs something. Big birdie putt coming up from 15 feet or so. Meanwhile what moxie on display from Yealimi Noh, who having skied that drive, cracks a long iron front-right of the green, about the best she could do from distance, then lobs high and screeches her ball to kick-in distance. That’s a lovely par save.
14:14
Yealimi Noh, the new leader of the Evian, skies her drive at 10. She guffaws, wide-eyed, covering her mouth in a what-just-happened fashion. She’s very fortunate that her ball reaches the fairway. Just. The deposed Jeongeun Lee6 flays her tee shot towards the trees down the left. Her ball takes a walk down the cart path before finally opting to stop. She’ll get relief, but whether she has a route to the green isn’t yet clear. Lydia Ko, who is right in this despite having spent most of the day so far driving like Seve, finally finds a fairway. The smart money right now will be on her and Minjee Lee.
14:10
Lee6’s par putt never looks like dropping. It flies past the right side of the cup, more than the width of a ball away, and stops six feet past. That is nothing short of appalling, and given that her head is clearly addled at the moment, she does very well to tidy up for bogey. But that’s five shots gone in the last seven holes. The hunted becomes hunter. Meanwhile Minjee Lee passes up opportunity to grab a share of the lead by missing a five-footer for birdie on 10.
-15: Noh (9) -14: Lee (10), Lee6 (9) -13: Maguire (F), Ko (10)
14:05
Jeongeun Lee6 is in danger of falling apart. From the back of 9, she chunks a chip, then leaves an awful long putt 12 feet short. Her head must be swimming right now. Meanwhile it’s a par for Yealimi Noh, and birdie for Lydia Ko, despite her drive failing to find the fairway.
14:00
Minjee Lee gets up and down from a bunker at the par-five 9th to turn in 32. Nice and steady may win this race. She’s one off the lead at -14. Coming up behind, Yealimi Noh finds the same trap, while Jeongeun Lee6 flies her second over the back. This really is too close to call now. Who’d have thought it, a couple of hours ago?
-15: Noh (8), Lee6 (8) -14: Lee (9) -13: Maguire (F), Ko (8) -11: Chun (11), Furue (9), Thitikul (11)
13:53
Leona Maguire shoots record-equalling 61
An eagle chance for Leona Maguire, from the fringe at the par-five 18th. If she holes it, she’ll be the first person, woman or man, to shoot 60 in a major! Sadly, she misreads her putt from 15 feet, which breaks violently to the right, and ends five feet from the hole. But she’s not letting history totally wriggle from her grasp, and rolls in the birdie putt for a record-equalling 61! She’s alongside Kim Hyo-joo and Jeongeun Lee6 in the record books, both players having made their mark on this very same course. She’s the clubhouse leader at -13.
Updated
13:49
How will Yealimi Noh react, now the hunter is one of the hunted? By creaming her drive at the par-five 9th straight down the middle, is how. Lydia Ko’s tee shot flies into the thick rough down the right, but Jeongeun Lee6, who could be forgiven for being in shock, finds the short stuff.
13:44
Yealimi Noh bounces back in style. She swishes her tee shot at the par-three 8th to 15 feet, and gently strokes a right-to-left downhill slider into the cup for her birdie! She turns 20 tomorrow, and a first major championship would be one hell of an early birthday present. And this is properly on now, because Jeongeun Lee6 yips a two-footer for par, and her five-shot overnight lead is gone. She walks off shaking her head, as well she might. Bogey for Lydia Ko as well, the result of a weak chip.
-15: Noh (8), Lee6 (8) -13: Lee (8) -12: Maguire (17), Ko (8)
13:36
Another birdie for Leona Maguire! This is a sensational effort from Cavan’s finest. She sends her second at 17 to six feet, and tidies up for her third in a row. She’s on course for a 62 … and if she can make something on 18, a par five, she’ll equal the all-time 18-hole major-championship record!
13:32
Noh can’t make her long par putt on 7, and that’s a very untidy bogey. Ko does very well to get up and down from the back to scramble her par. Lee6’s 12-foot birdie effort never looks like dropping, but she’ll be more than happy with another par, the bleeding stemmed, her cushion at the top back to two strokes.
-16: Lee6 (7) -14: Noh (7) -13: Lee (8), Ko (7)
13:30
Fun and games on 8. Pajaree Anannarukarn had been going backwards at speed, after bogeys at 3, 4 and 5. But the 22-year-old Thai, whose best result at a major is a tie for 14th at the 2019 PGA, birdied 6 and now picks up another 8 in entertaining fashion. She splashes out elegantly from a greenside bunker. Her ball stops stubbornly on the lip. She takes every second of her allotted time, and eventually the ball drops of its own accord! No need to get the putter out. She’s -10.
