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Henderson succeeds Lee as Evian champion

Canada's Brooke Henderson has holed a winning putt on the 18th green to take the Evian Championship, succeeding Australian Minjee Lee as champion.

BROOKE HENDERSON.
BROOKE HENDERSON. Picture: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Canadian Brooke Henderson has claimed her second major title, holing a winning putt on the final green to succeed Australia's Minjee Lee as the Evian Championship victor.

Lee was unable to reproduce last year's final day heroics, her disappointing title defence petering out fairly tamely in the French major as she ended up tied for 43rd - a massive 14 shots behind the victorious Henderson.

Despite not showing the same searing form of her first three rounds, Henderson hung tough in Sunday's final round, and holed a clutch 10 foot birdie putt at the par-five 18th to seal a one-shot win over American Sophia Schubert.

The 24-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ontario, who had won the 2016 Women's PGA title as a teen prodigy, got drenched with champagne by her competitors on the final green after she'd ended with a battling level-par round of 71 to finish on a 17-under total of 267.

"After I sunk that putt, I looked at my sister Brittany and said, 'did we really do this?'," said a near-incredulous Henderson, who'd long been expected to land her follow-up major.

"I didn't play my best today but I kept trying to remind myself that I was still in it. I hit some good shots and holed clutch putts down the stretch."

In a hard-fought finale, only two shots separated the first seven players with five sharing third spot at 15-under - Japan's Mao Saigo (64), New Zealander Lydia Ko (66), England's Charley Hull (67), Korea's Hyo Joo Kim (67) and Spain's Carlota Ciganda (68).

At one point on the back nine, there was a seven-way tie for first, with the lead actually changing 13 times over the day.

In a dramatic finale while level with surprise rookie Schubert (68), Henderson hit a wild hook off the final tee, with her ball luckily ricocheting off the trees and back into the rough.

She laid up and, from 100 metres, sent her third shot to 10 feet before holing nervelessly. "Really nice," was the way she charmingly described it.

Lee, who'd earlier set out with high hopes of a third major title after her recent fine form, finished her underwhelming tournament in Evian-les-Bains with a final two-under 69 to finish on a three-under total.

In 2021, the Perth golfer had ended with a glorious final round of 64 to come from seven shots back and take the title in a play-off.

But this year, she was too far off the pace to make any significant impression, especially after she'd made a double bogey at the first - following her triple bogey at the same hole on Saturday.

Lee then played some of her best golf of the week, recording seven birdies, but was still bedevilled by more mistakes as she also added three more bogeys.

Lee couldn't finish as the top Australian as her fellow major winner Hannah Green and rising Sydney star Steph Kyriacou both finished four shots ahead of her in a tie for 31st.

Kyriacou enjoyed a grandstand finish, reeling off five birdies in her final 11 holes to shoot a five-under 66 and finish on seven under, while 2019 Women's PGA winner Green matched her by coming home in 68.

LPGA Tour stalwart Sarah Kemp, who'd enjoyed an impressive first half of the tournament, shot her second over-par round of the weekend, a two-over 73, to finish tied for 54th at one under.

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