Chun In-gee captured her third major title on Sunday, winning the Women’s PGA Championship to claim her first major since 2016 and snap a victory drought of almost four years. The 27-year-old South Korean fired a three-over-par 75 in windy conditions at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, to finish 72 holes on five-under 283.
That was good enough for a one-stroke triumph over American Lexi Thompson and Australian Minjee Lee to take the $1.35 million top prize from a record $9 million purse.
“It just means a lot because I didn’t have any wins for almost 3 1/2 years,” Chun said, her voice cracking with emotion. “My loyal fans in Korea, they never gave up on me no matter how I did.”
Chun, ranked 33rd, had not won since October 2018 at the Hana Bank Championship in South Korea, a 76-event worldwide winless streak.
But after squandering what had been a three-stroke lead when the day began, Chun added a third career major trophy after the 2015 US Women’s Open and 2016 Evian Championship.
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Chun dominated the first two rounds and led by as many as seven strokes before struggling to 75s in each of the final two rounds while sixth-ranked Thompson charged.
Thompson, however, could not end an eight-year major win drought since her 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship trophy at age 19 or a three-year overall victory drought.
The American settled for her 11th top-five major finish since capturing her first major victory and her fourth major runner-up effort.
Thompson, tied for the lead with Chun at the par-4 17th, made a three-putt bogey to give the Asian star a one-stroke lead as they reached the 72nd hole of the week.
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At the par-4 18th, Chun went into back greenside rough with her approach while Thompson had a long birdie putt. Chun rolled her putt over a ridge and five feet past the cup while Thompson two-putted for par, leaving Chun one last putt for the title.
Chun calmly rolled in the tension-packed putt and pumped her right fist as the ball fell into the cup and gave her a third career major title.
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