Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea made an 8-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to defeat Lilia Vu and win the Ford Championship on Sunday in Chandler, Ariz.
Kim started the day four shots off the pace and charged up the leaderboard with an 8-under-par 64. Vu took her to a playoff by birdieing the 17th hole and parring the 18th, tying Kim at 22-under 266 with a round of 68.
They replayed the par-4 18th at the Cattail Course at Whirlwind Golf Club, and after Vu landed her second shot far from the hole, Kim played a perfect approach that left her pin high for birdie.
Vu couldn’t convert from long range and Kim made the winning putt for her first return to the winner’s circle since October 2023. According to the Golf Channel broadcast, Kim will also rise into the top 10 of the Rolex Rankings this week.
“It has been a while since the last win, and I worked hard in the wintertime and it was a surprise that it came so quickly, the win,” Kim said through a translator.
Kim holed five birdies on the front nine and made another pair at Nos. 10-11 to go 7 under through 11 holes. She bogeyed the par-5 12th to lose some steam, but a birdie putt from off the green at No. 16 and a two-putt birdie at the par-5 17th boosted her to 22 under.
“The feeling was great today and I just thought one hole at a time, one birdie at a time,” said Kim, who won her seventh career LPGA title.
Kim had to wait as Vu, the 54-hole leader, finished her round. Vu played a terrific shot out of a greenside bunker at the 17th, setting up a tap-in birdie to tie the lead.
“At one point I was like, ‘OK, I got to start making birdies,’ and kind of knew that when I think of one shot at a time and just trying to birdie that hole, it kind of works out,” Vu said. “So, I mean, I’m not too afraid of the leaderboard. I feel like I don’t want it to control you, so I’m not afraid of it.”
Vu struggled at No. 18 and had around 7 feet for par to force the playoff, but she knocked it in with ease.
Allisen Corpuz fired a 65 and finished one stroke outside the playoff, alone in third at 21 under. Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul (66) was fourth at 20 under and Lindy Duncan (66) took fifth at 19 under.
