(Photo credit score: Cody Scanlan/Holland Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK)
Cheyenne Knight and Elizabeth Szokol birdied the seventeenth gap and held on for a one-shot victory on the alternate-shot Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational on Saturday in Midland, Mich.
They defeated Matilda Castren and Kelly Tan, who birdied 4 of their final eight holes, together with No. 17, however might get no nearer, lacking a birdie putt on 18. Knight and Szokol, who started the spherical with a three-shot lead over Castren and Tan, managed three birdies on the again 9.
It’s Szokol’s first LPGA Tour victory and Knight’s second. The U.S. teammates who posted a 61 and 62 within the second and third rounds, concluded with a 65, good for 5-under 257 total.
Knight spoke afterward about dealing with the stress this time round.
“I’ve had a few close calls this year. I’ve been in contention a few times, and I really haven’t handled the pressure. Kind of let it get to me a little bit. We kind of joked at the beginning of the week. We were, like, Why not win?” Knight stated.
“Honestly, Elizabeth, we’ve been friends for such a long time. I couldn’t have asked for anything better than to get the win with her.”
Szokol acknowledged the stress as nicely.
“There was a lot of pressure. Starting the day with a three-shot lead was a great thing, but everyone was chasing us. In this format, there are a lot of birdies. Matilda and Kelly were playing great and started off really well. Definitely some pressure there. Cheyenne made some amazing putts coming in,” Szokol stated.
Castren, of Finland, and Tan, of Malaysia, completed the day at 7-under 63 and 258 for the match after eight birdies and one bogey. The first-round leaders settled for his or her second straight runner-up end at this occasion.
“I think we both played great,” Tan stated after the spherical. “We have good synergy on the course together. If I’m down, she picked me up, or if she was down, I picked her up every day.”
Castren echoed these ideas.
“I think we can both be really happy how we played under the pressure. Obviously we were a few shots back this morning, and we kind of got those back during the round. There’s a lot of pressure playing for a win, so we performed,” Castren stated.
Three groups tied for third. Celine Boutier of France and Yuka Saso of Japan carded an 8-under 62, with eight birdies and no bogeys, to complete at 20-under. Also at 20-under after concluding rounds of 63 had been the duos of Jodi Ewart Shadoff of the England and Emma Talley of the United States, and Celine Borge of Norway and Polly Mack of Germany.
Ewart Shadoff and Talley completed in type, with an eagle on No. 18. They additionally had six birdies and one bogey.
Borge and Mack concluded the day with 9 birdies, together with 5 straight on the again 9, but in addition had two bogeys.
–Field Level Media