Jennifer Kupcho battles early-round struggles, claims Meijer LPGA Classic title in playoff

BELMONT — After such a thrilling weekend, it almost felt anticlimactic.

Jennifer Kupcho holed a tap-in birdie putt on the second playoff hole and with her competitor, Leona Maguire, facing just a 3-footer to match the score, the 25-year-old was already looking toward the next playoff hole. Except it didn't come to that. Maguire's putt lipped out and Kupcho claimed the Meijer LPGA Classic title, her second career LPGA victory.

"Honestly [when Maguire's putt lipped out] it was just [a] shock," Kupcho said. "She went to Duke, I went to Wake Forest. Playing with her so much, she doesn't miss putts. Yeah, I was really just shocked."

Early in the round, it didn't feel like Kupcho would be the one lifting the silverware when all was said and done, though. She started the day one shot back of reigning Meijer LPGA Classic champion Nelly Korda, who was also tied for the lead after the round but was eliminated in the first playoff hole. Kupcho struggled early on in her round.

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Through the first six holes, Kupcho was three over par with a bogey and a double on her card. She sat as many as three shots off the lead, but she closed the front nine with authority, carding an eagle and a birdie before the turn to salvage even par on the front and be tied atop the leaderboard heading into the final nine holes.

Those last holes are when champions are made and Kupcho stayed under par, going 1-under on the back with two birdies, though a late bogey on 16 and a par on the easily scorable par 5 18th sent her to a playoff.  But she made two straight birdies in the playoff to capture the title. Even though early on it looked like she could be collapsing, she knew deep down the championship was always in reach.

"I think just telling myself that I'm not out of it," Kupcho said. "And honestly  I've always been a back-nine player and I really am a back-nine player."

Before the round started, it looked like it would be a race between three or four players. Kupcho and Korda had separated themselves at one and two, but Brooke Henderson and Lexi Thompson were close behind. Henderson ended up finishing in a tie for ninth after going even on the day and 15-under for the tournament. Thompson had the solo lead at one point in the afternoon at 18-under, but struggled down the stretch with three bogeys on her final eight holes to finish at 16-under in a tie for fifth.

It's Thompson's fourth top-10 finish in 2022 and something for her to build on heading into a major, the KPMG omen's PGA Championship next week.

"I had a rough stretch on my second nine, but I kept going with a positive attitude hoping I could birdie every hole in and I kept on trying," Thompson said. "Something to build on and learn from it and move on."

Of those three past champions at the Meijer, only Korda factored into the final result, but it was Maguire who had the round of the day. When the Irishwoman teed off Sunday she was seven shots back of the lead. The back-to-back runner-up at the Meijer LPGA Classic carded eight birdies and one bogey to finish her day 7-under before the playoff.

Korda admitted she didn't have her best day. After finishing each of the first three rounds 5-under or better, she limped into the playoff at even-par for the day. She was eliminated on the first playoff hole when Kupcho and Maguire both birdied and she managed a par. While it stung in the immediate aftermath, considering the tournament is just her second since March after having surgery for a blood clot, she was pretty happy with the result.

"Unfortunately sometimes you have it and sometimes you don't," Korda said. "If you told me I think three, four months ago when I was in the ER that I would be here I would be extremely happy."

While each of Sunday's three playoff golfers have momentum heading into the KPMG next week just outside of Washington D.C., Kupcho has the most going for her. She already has experience winning a major championship, claiming the Chevron Championship in early April, and is coming off a nervy win just five days before her next round.

She was well ahead at the Chevron, winning by two strokes and was well in front heading into the final round. The nerve-wracking atmosphere on Sunday might have made this one a bit more special for her.

Still, even more, special though was winning on Father's Day. With an early afternoon paring, she had plenty of time to call her dad in the morning. Instead, she made a promise to herself — call him later on with something your luggage a little bit heavier than it was when you got here.

"I thought to myself this morning that I should call him, but I kept telling myself, no, like we'll call him after the round with the trophy in our hand," Kupcho said.  "And I'm excited I can do that now."

—Contact Assistant Sports Editor Will Kennedy at Will.Kennedy@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @ByWillKennedy and Facebook @Holland Sentinel Sports.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Jennifer Kupcho claims Meijer LPGA Classic title in 2-hole playoff