Rodriguez finished her first stint as a LPGA member with a 293 total, 1 over par for the tournament and 19 strokes behind victor Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea, who won by two strokes stroke over American Stacy Lewis and two others. It ended with H.J. Kim holding the trophy after a closing 66 that left her at 18-under 274, two strokes better than Lewis, Nordqvist and S.Y. Kim.
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The field for this event will be very strong including last year’s victor Sei Young Kim, who beat major champion Sun Young Yoo and fellow rookie Ariya Jutanugarn in a one-hole playoff to claim the first of her three victories last year.
Rodriguez highlighted her round with an eagle on the short par 5 fourth hole and then birdied five holes. She has nine runner-up finishes in a 40-event victory drought that dates to June 2014. That was not to be the case as Lewis could only make par on the 18th and had to settle for second place for the 22nd time in her career.
She regained her composure immediately to birdie the 17th and although Kim Sei-young picked up a shot at the last, neither she nor Lewis could prevent Kim Hyo-joo from claiming the title.
AS JOINT leaders Charley Hull and Anna Nordqvist set out on their final rounds in the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic on Sunday, several players were making a charge up the already congested leaderboard.
“I knew on the last hole you can get on for two so I was a little nervous coming up 18”, Kim said.
He has to wait until today to find out. The wind was so fierce that the South Course was evacuated as the gusts started to push out windows in tents.
Third-ranked Lewis parred the final three holes after birdieing holes 13 through 15. When play was halted, Walker was at 7 under, one shot ahead of Snedeker and Choi.
Shane Lowry had the next best score at 73.
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PANAMA CITY – Ryan Armour won the Web.com Tour’s season-opening Panama Claro Championship for his first victory in 217 career starts. Armour finished at 12-under 268 at Panama Golf Club and earned $112,500.
