Leona Maguire ends tied for 61st at BMW Ladies Championship

Result ruins Cavan golfer’s chances of coming away with the rookie of the year gong

Leona Maguire carded a second consecutive round of 73 to finsih the BMW Ladies Championship in a tie for 61st place.

Maguire started her round with eight consecutive pars before a birdie at the ninth saw her take the turn at one-under for the day.

A bogey-biridie start to the back nine kept Maguire under par, but two more boegys before the end of the round ensured that the Cavan born golfer finished with a 73, bringing her back to level par for the tournament.

The result saw Maguire pocket a $4,448 pot of prize money. She drops down to 16th in the Race to CME Globe standings and can no longer claim the rookie of the year crown.

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World number two Ko Jin-young staved off a spirited challenge from Lim Hee-jeong on Sunday to seal a dramatic playoff victory and become the 200th South Korean champion on the LPGA Tour.

Ko set the LPGA International Busan course alight with an eight-under-par 64 in the final round that had eight birdies, including one in the 17th, to grab a share of top spot.

But Lim made a par on 18 to stay level at 22-under overall, forcing a playoff.

The 26-year-old Ko made another gain in the first playoff hole - the par-four 18th - after a superb approach shot and overnight leader Lim could only manage a par to hand the championship to her compatriot.

“I wasn’t that nervous going into the playoff. I think I was feeding off the confidence I had during the round,” Ko said of her first ever playoff.

The victory is the 11th of Ko’s career and follows her wins in the Volunteers of America Classic, the Cambia Portland Classic and the 2021 Cognizant Founders Cup this year.

She is projected to become the top-ranked women’s golfer in the world replacing American Nelly Korda.

“I wasn’t too conscious of that. I always feel if your game is in good form and you keep at it, you can reach that ranking,” Ko added.

“I felt if I worked hard I might have a chance this year. So I did return to that spot earlier than I expected. I’m going to do my best so that I can maintain that position.”

It was a disappointing finish for the 21-year-old Lim who came into the final round of the $2 million event on the back of a course record 198 after 54 holes.

Ko, who was second after three rounds, briefly claimed the outright lead following the 12th hole when she sank a 10-foot putt and was neck-and-neck with Lim for much of the day.

Having fired six birdies on the front nine, she raised her game after a brief dip to complete the par-four 17th hole in three shots to improve her title hopes.

Ko’s composure made all the difference in the sudden-death scenario as Lim was unable to force a second playoff hole.

Final round scores from the BMW Ladies Championship (USA unless stated, Par 72):

266 Jin-Young Ko (Kor) 71 64 67 64 (Ko won play-off at 1st extra hole), 266 Hee-Jeong Lim (Kor) 67 66 65 68

271 Lydia Ko (Nzl) 73 67 67 64, A-Lim Kim (Kor) 66 71 70 64, Da-Yeon Lee (Kor) 68 73 65 65, Nam-Rin Ant (Kor) 64 69 69 69

272 Ind-Gee Chun (Kor) 65 69 70 68, Hae-Ran Ryu (Kor) 66 70 67 69

273 Alison Lee 67 71 67 68

274 Danielle Kang 66 68 69 71, Ji-Hyun Oh (Kor) 71 69 69 65

275 Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 70 69 69 67, Min-Jee Lee (Aus) 67 69 68 71

276 Hee-Young Park (Kor) 69 70 67 70, Ha-Nam Jang (Kor) 74 69 67 66, Yun-Ji Jeong (Kor) 68 70 72 66

277 Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha) 68 69 68 72, Charley Hull (Eng) 69 71 69 68, Wichanee Meechai (Tha) 69 72 68 68, Marina Alex 70 69 70 68, Han-Sol Ji (Kor) 75 70 64 68

278 Pajaree Anannarukarn (Tha) 70 71 70 67, Eun-Hee Ji (Kor) 71 70 68 69, Ji-Su Kim (Kor) 70 69 72 67, Yem-Sung Jun (Kor) 70 71 68 69

279 Celine Boutier (Fra) 70 70 69 70, Jennifer Song 71 67 69 72, Ji-Hyun Kim (Kor) 68 69 72 70

280 Hannah Green (Aus) 68 72 67 73

281 Hyo-Joo Kim (Kor) 71 68 70 72, Jeon-Geun Lee (Kor) 69 70 71 71, Esther Henseleit (Ger) 67 72 71 71, Carlota Ciganda (Spa) 73 70 69 69, Hyun-Kyung Park (Kor) 71 69 69 72, Ju-Young Park (Kor) 65 72 71 73

282 Ind-Bee Park (Kor) 70 71 71 70, Som-Yeon Ryu (Kor) 72 72 71 67, Hae-Ji Kang (Kor) 69 73 70 70, Jung-Min Lee (Kor) 70 72 70 70, Yu-Jin Sung (Kor) 71 68 73 70

283 Sung-Hyun Park (Kor) 71 73 69 70, Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Den) 73 69 74 67, Gaby Lopez (Mex) 67 74 72 70, Thidapa Suwannapura (Tha) 70 72 70 71, Chella Choi (Kor) 73 69 72 69, Som-Mi Lee (Kor) 68 72 72 71, Hye-Jin Choi (Kor) 72 70 73 68, Gab-Young Lee (Kor) 73 69 70 71, Ji-Young Park (Kor) 72 72 69 70, Min-Song Ha (Kor) 71 72 66 74

284 Da-Been Heo (Kor) 70 70 71 73

285 Sei-Young Kim (Kor) 67 72 74 72, Jennifer Kupcho 70 74 69 72, Yealimi Noh 71 75 68 71, Yu Liu (Chn) 70 73 72 70

286 Jenny Shin (Kor) 75 75 67 69, Elizabeth Szokol 72 68 75 71, Gab-Eun Song (Kor) 72 72 71 71, Yem-Rim Choi (Kor) 74 72 69 71

287 Cheyenne Knight 75 74 70 68

288 Yem-Been Sohn (Kor) 71 72 75 70, Yea-Lin Kang (Kor) 70 69 77 72, Leona Maguire (Irl) 70 72 73 73, Su-Hyun Oh (Aus) 71 69 73 75, Emma Talley 71 73 71 73, Min Lee (Tai) 73 71 73 71, Ji-Young Kim (Kor) 70 71 75 72, Hae-Rym Kim (Kor) 72 74 73 69, Jin-Hee Lim (Kor) 67 72 72 77

289 Amy Yang (Kor) 75 70 75 69, Jeong-Eun Lee (Kor) 78 72 68 71, Albane Valenzuela (Swi) 69 75 72 73, Min-Ji Park (Kor) 71 75 72 71, Jung-Min Hong (Kor) 68 76 72 73

290 Wei Ling Hsu (Tai) 74 70 72 74, Giulia Molinaro (Ita) 72 71 72 75, Bronte Law (Eng) 76 73 70 71, Jee-Hyun Ahn (Kor) 73 70 71 76

291 Sarah Kemp (Aus) 76 72 72 71, Yeun-Jung Seo (Kor) 71 78 71 71

294 Ashleigh Buhai (Rsa) 76 74 73 71

295 Matilda Castren (Fin) 80 70 72 73

297 Ji-Hyun Lee (Kor) 76 73 75 73, Sarah Schmelzel 73 76 71 77