EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — A lot happened in a chaotic final round of the Evian Championship: a spectator unwittingly picked up a stray ball, a pair of four putts in the final group, a tie at seven for the lead, it was hard to know what to expect as Brooke Henderson He walked down the fairway at the 72nd hole.
The Canadian shared the lead with the LPGA rookie sophia schubert and he had just had a lucky escape when his wild hook off the tee on the par-5 No. 18 flew into the trees and bounced back to relative safety.
Now, in the middle of the fairway, could Henderson birdie to win the second major title of her career, six years after her first at the Women’s PGA Championship in 2016 when she was just 18?
Henderson handled the pressure, hitting his third shot from 8 feet and rolling on the putt for a par-par round of 71. His teammates doused him in champagne after pulling off a 1-shot victory that certainly wasn’t easy.
“Definitely not my best moment today,” Henderson said. “I just tried to be patient and remind myself that I was still in it.
“I made some clutch putts and shots down the stretch that really helped.”
After all, Henderson entered Sunday with a 2-shot lead and had barely been out of position all week at Evian Resort Golf Club in rounds of 64, 64 and 68.
However, that was eliminated after the first hole, thanks to a birdie by playing partner So Yeon Ryu (73) and a bogey by Henderson.
Thus began the rarity of the final round of the fourth major of the year, when there were 13 changes in the lead.
At No. 5, Ryu had a double bogey to give Henderson a 3-shot lead. On the next hole, Henderson also putted four for a double and saw his lead slip to one.
At that time, Olympic champion nelly korda — who started 6 shots behind Henderson but was soon only 3 behind — had pushed his approach shot into the rough near a driveway and saw a spectator walk up to the ball and pick it up.
The ball had to be replaced to a better estimate of where it was picked up, and Korda went on to double up on his own.
Henderson was knocked out of the lead for the first time, though only briefly, when Schubert birdied No. 12 to move to 15-under, breaking a seven-way tie for first place.
Henderson managed to keep pace with Schubert with birdies on Nos. 14 and 15, and a par putt on No. 16.
The pair were tied for the lead after reaching 18th, with Schubert playing in the group ahead of Henderson.
Schubert played better, but his birdie putt stopped just an inch from the cup (he had to settle for a 68) just after Henderson fired his ugly drive.
Henderson jumped into the fairway and made his fourth birdie of the day, three of them in the last six holes.
He finished with a 17-under 267.
“I stayed pretty patient, as patient as I could under the circumstances,” Henderson said. “Going into the back nine, the saying is that Majors are won on the back nine, so I just tried to keep that frame of mind and I knew I was still in it if I had a solid back.” [nine].”
Schubert, who started the final fourth round from the lead, nearly won his second major as a pro. Playing his first year on the LPGA Tour, he had not finished in the top 10 before this week.
Five players were tied for third place a shot further back: Mao Saigo (64), Lydia Ko (66), Charley Hull (67), Hyo Joo Kim (67) and Charlotte Ciganda (68).
Korda, who holed out from a greenside bunker for an eagle at No. 9 and somehow found himself in that seven-way tie for the lead, made eight pars and one bogey on his last nine and finished tied for eighth. , four behind Henderson. after a 69.