Thailand's Moriya fires 66 to win LPGA Portland Classic / Photo: Alika Jenner - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Thailand's Moriya fires 66 to win LPGA Portland Classic
Thailand's Moriya Jutanugarn won her third career LPGA title on Sunday, going bogey-free for 71 holes to capture the Portland Classic by two strokes.
Moriya fired a six-under par 66 despite closing with her only bogey of the event to stand on 22-under 266 after 72 holes at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Oregon.
"Every win is special," Moriya said. "It has kind of been a long time since my last win."
It was the first individual triumph for Moriya since the 2018 LA Open, her other LPGA victory coming at the 2021 Great Lakes Bay Invitational pairs event with sister Ariya.
"I like to be in contention," Moriya said. "Today was nice. I feel like I haven't been in contention for a little while. It keeps you on your toes and it's exciting."
Sharing second on 268 were South Korea's An Na-rin, who aced the par-3 16th, American Angel Yin and Russia's Nataliya Guseva.
Germany's Polly Mack, Paraguay's Sofia Garcia and South Korea's Lee So-mi were on 269 with Dewi Weber of the Netherlands in eighth on 270.
Moriya made birdies at the par-4 third, par-5 seventh and par-3 eighth holes and seized the lead by reeling off three birdies in a row at the par-5 12th, par-3 13th and par-4 14th.
After finding a bunker off the tee, she sank a clutch nine-foot par putt at the par-3 16th to stay bogey-free for the week and keep her lead.
"When you make that putt, it felt a lot better and felt like taking a lot of pressure off," Moriya said.
Moriya then made a five-foot birdie putt at 17, stretching her lead to three shots, and even though she missed an eight-foot par putt at 18, her lone bogey all-but sealed a win.
"Bogey free would be great," Moriya said. "But I think I'm in a pretty good position."
When Yin could not hole out from the fairway to force a playoff, the title belonged to Moriya, whose excited sister Ariya greeted her just off the 18th green.
"So excited and so proud of her because I know she been waiting for so long," Ariya said. "We won together in 2021 but she always say. 'I want to win by myself.'
"She has really struggled and this year was really hard for her. This shows she is well deserving because she never gives up. No matter what happened, she always worked hard."
Weber birdied seven and eight and another birdie at the 12th lifted her within a stroke of the lead. But she found a bunker then deep rough at 15 on the way to a double bogey to fall three adrift.
T.Murphy--MP
