NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Madelene Sagstrom ended greater than a five-year LPGA Tour victory drought, overcoming the lack of a four-hole lead at tough Shadow Creek in a 1-up victory over Lauren Coughlin on Sunday within the T-Cell Match Play ultimate.
Sagstrom took the lead for good with a par on the par-5 sixteenth gap. Coughlin made a double bogey on the opening.
Maybe it was a becoming when the world’s top-ranked gamers fell one after one other on the picturesque however demanding course {that a} ranked 67th claimed the $300,000 winner’s share. The Swede’s different win got here in 2020 on the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio.
The ultimate match reached the 18th inexperienced for the primary time the 5-year-old occasion.
In a battle of 32-year-olds, Sagstrom had a four-hole lead after simply six holes when Coughlin bogeyed No. 2 and the Swede rolled off three consecutive birdies starting at No. 4. However then the match modified, with a instantly shaky Sagstrom lacking off the tee and failing to navigate the lightning-quick greens that took even well-struck strategy pictures into the tough.
Couglin claimed 5 of the following six holes to take the lead. Although she did her half with a pair of birdies, Coughlin additionally did not need to do something spectacular as Sagstrom carded three bogeys and two doubles over that stretch.
Then Coughlin bogeyed the par-3 thirteenth, and Sagstrom made par to tug again even, which is the place the match stood till the sixteenth.
Each gamers failed to remain out of the tough, with Coughlin even twice chipping from about the identical spot after the ball rolled again on her. Coughlin lastly conceded the opening after her 30-foot putt went properly previous and the double bogey put Sagstrom again within the lead.
Coughlin, ranked seventeenth, has been a tricky out all event. She performed in a minimum of 18 holes in each match, a complete of 127 in comparison with 72 for a standard stroke-play event. Coughlin was 3-down in her earlier two matches earlier than rallying to win, together with a 1-up victory over Ariya Jutanugarn within the semifinals Sunday morning.
Sagstrom has been pushed to the boundaries as properly.
She survived a 19-hole round-of-16 match in opposition to Carlota Ciganda on Saturday after which needed to wait greater than two hours as Celine Boutier and Ashleigh Buhai went at it over 28 holes. Then it turned one other marathon of a match as Sagstrom and Boutier had been tied by means of 17 as darkness set in. The match was suspended, and Sagstrom completed up early Sunday morning with a Nineteenth-hole quarterfinals victory.
Sagstrom then took out Twelfth-ranked Angel Yin 4 and a pair of within the semifinals.
Coughlin was looking for her first victory for the reason that Scottish Open in August. The Charlottesville, Virginia, resident has two profession victories, each final yr.
