Comebacks are one thing. We’ve had a mountain of them through the years, especially in majors. Sometimes it’s great play down the stretch – Johnny Miller’s 63 at Oakmont, in case you had forgotten. And sometimes, it’s a slow-motion train wreck by a leader who should have waltzed to victory – Greg Norman in 1996 at Augusta pops immediately to mind.
Last week, the Amundi Evian Championship was a little bit of both.
To get the particulars out of the way up front: 25-year-old Australian Minjee Lee, just two weeks removed from watching her younger brother Min Woo Lee win the Abrdn Scottish Open on the European Tour, put on a ballstriking exhibition at the Evian Resort Golf Club on Sunday, firing a bogey-free 64 – a round that included four birdies in her last five holes – to finish the week 18-under par. Lee then birdied the first hole of sudden death, barely missing a 6-foot eagle putt, to beat third-round leader Jeongeun Lee6 and become a first-time major champion.
Lee, who was the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world as a teenager and represented Australia in the 2014 UL International Crown before she turned pro, could not have been more ecstatic. She came from seven shots back to win in France, matching the largest final-round comeback in women’s major championship history – a record she now shares with her friend, mentor and fellow Australian Karrie Webb.
So, those are the nuts and bolts of it. Lee could not have played better on Sunday. Her 64 was just as good a ball-striking performance as the 63 Sei Young Kim put up a year ago at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship to win. In that one, Kim missed one tee shot all day and recovered with a par. On Sunday, Lee didn’t hit one wayward shot until the last tee when she pulled it in the left rough, laid up, and got up and down from 100 yards for birdie anyway.
This was as well-deserved a win as any in recent memory.
Now for the nuance. Just as Webb could not have come from seven back in the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship without help from Lorena Ochoa, Lee could not have taken what Lee6 did not give.
You have to hurt for Jeongeun Lee6, still looking for her second LPGA Tour victory and coping with a collapse that will almost certainly leave a mark.
Only three players who finished in the top 15 of this Evian Championship shot in the 70s on Sunday. Lydia Ko, playing alongside Lee, eagled the last hole to shoot 70 on the number and tie for sixth place. Pajaree Anannarukarn shot 71 to finish T10. And, finally, Lee6, who shot the most adventurous 71 of the week – a round that included five bogeys on the front nine and three consecutive birdies to finish.
You had to feel for her. Two days before, she had tied the all-time major championship record, shooting 61 on the admittedly softer course at Evian Resort Golf Club. But still, you don’t put up that kind of number on a pitch-and-putt without having every aspect of your game in shape.
But things looked out of sorts early on Sunday. Lee6 bogeyed three holes in a row starting at the third. The rhythm of her putting stroke, impeccable all week, looked jabby and forced. And every full swing looked out of sync, like she was chasing impact with a clubface that was nowhere close to square.
On the par-3 eighth hole, with even novice watchers noticing that the wheels were coming off, Lee missed a 2½-footer for par to give up sole possession of the lead.
It got even more painful on the par-5 ninth. Lee6 hit a perfect tee shot that enabled her to go for the green on her second shot. She missed the putting surface but left herself in decent shape in the rough just short of flag high. That’s when she hit the shot that summed up the day, a pitch most amateurs know all too well, thick and dead, flying about 10 feet and failing to make it onto the green. She had to make a 6-footer for bogey.
Shooting 39 on any nine holes as a pro will take the wind out of your sails. But to do so on a stretch where you shot 28 just two good nights of sleep ago will jangle every nerve in your system. It’s like forgetting how to drive a car or chew your food. You question yourself about everything.
Lee6 bounced back with a birdie at 12, the kind of steady-the-ship putt that gave her and all who cheered her on a sense of hope. But everyone watching probably wanted to run onto the par-5 15th when she pulled hybrid for her second shot. It wasn’t enough club if she’d had a hurricane behind her. The ball ended up in a front bunker. She then chunked her sand shot, failing to reach a green in regulation that most of the field had two-putted for birdie.
The last three birdies were inspiring – gutsy given how easy it would have been to fold the tent. But when she missed an eagle putt on the final hole that would have won it outright, everyone knew.
Ten minutes later, she thinned a 7-iron into the water in front of the 18th green, handing Minjee Lee the championship.
You had to love it for Lee. Her Sunday charge will be on the highlight reel at the end of the year and will be shown in her native Perth, Australia, for decades to come.
But on the other side, you have to hurt for Lee6, still looking for her second LPGA Tour victory and coping with a collapse that will almost certainly leave a mark.
When Norman fell apart at the Masters in 1996, he didn’t cry. In fact, he had the wide-eyed smile of someone who’d just walked away from a plane crash. Lee6 put up no such façade.
“I thought I could win,†she said through shameless tears.
So did everyone else. The fact that she didn’t makes us hurt with her just as the joy Lee showed in victory keeps us coming back for more.
It’s why we watch. It’s why we call these events “major.â€
Top: Minjee Lee celebrates after winning the Amundi Evian Championship.
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