This one turned into a dogfight with some of the top names on the LPGA Tour battling to figure out the tricky greens on the hillsides of Palos Verdes Golf Club just outside Los Angeles. While television makes everything look two-dimensional, the 1924 George Thomas design slopes a couple of hundred feet from the high edge of the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the Santa Monica Bay, with odd lies, drop-offs and greens so firm you could hear the thump of a ball landing from 150 yards away. The par-3 13th, for example, measured 200 yards but had a four-club elevation drop from tee to green.
In the end, fan favorite Marina Alex sank one more putt than everyone else, shooting a final-round 5-under 66 to reach 10-under 274 for the week, one shot better than Jin Young Ko, who went out early and posted a 66 of her own, and two clear of Lydia Ko and Megan Khang.
It was a lot more complicated than the final scores indicated, though. Late into the back nine on Sunday, there were seven players within two shots of the lead: five of them veteran winners, three major champions, four former Solheim Cup members, and two who have been No.1 in the Rolex Rankings.
“Today was amazing. It’s been a tough couple of years with COVID, and I was injured right after that. This has been the first year when I’ve felt good, really good."
Marina Alex
Still, the greens could make you look silly. Khang, who contended late, missed a birdie putt on 16 from inside 2 feet that would have tied her for the lead. It wasn’t a bad putt. She was trying to take out the break by firming it but hit the lip and spun it out for a longer second putt than the first. Lydia Ko, normally automatic from inside 5 feet, missed two birdie putts of that length on 14 and 18 and missed an 8-footer for birdie on 16 – and she needed that to pull within a shot of the lead. And Minjee Lee, who shot 8-under par to lead on the opening day, missed enough putts to fill her year in the final three rounds.
Alex, who began the final round three shots off the lead, needed only 26 putts on Sunday, which proved to be the difference.
Most casual fans remember Alex for one she lost instead of her previous victory, at the 2018 Cambia Portland Classic. She was on the bad side of the Suzann Pettersen match at the 2019 Solheim Cup at Gleneagles in Scotland, arguably the most compelling women’s sporting event of the past decade. Pettersen made a walk-off birdie on the final hole of the final match to win the cup for Europe.
Alex would like for everyone to forget that she was the one at Gleneagles getting the consolation hug. Now, with this putting performance in the inaugural Palos Verdes Championship that received nearly universal praise, she will likely get her wish.
“Today was amazing,” the 31-year-old Alex said. “It’s been a tough couple of years with COVID, and I was injured right after that. This has been the first year when I’ve felt good, really good.
“I’ve been working with Claude Harmon and working really hard. I wasn’t sure (winning) was ever going to happen again. We’re all getting older, and I wasn’t sure if my mind and body was going to put me there. … But now I don’t feel like I’m on defense. I have a bunch of majors to play, and I’m looking forward to seeing what I’ve got.”
Steve Eubanks