LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hannah Green won LPGA Tour’s JM Eagle LA Championship for the second straight year Sunday, holing out twice from off the greens in a pivotal back-nine stretch at challenging Whilshire Country Club.
A year after making a 25-foot birdie on the final hole of regulation and winning on the second hole of a playoff, Green — with help from Maja Stark — took the late drama out of this one for her fifth LPGA Tour victory and second of the year.
Green closed with a 5-under 66 to beat Stark by three strokes. The 27-year-old Australian, also the winner early last month in Singapore, finished at 12-under 272 on the tree-lined layout with poa annua greens that become bumpy late in the day.
Green began the key run with a chip-in birdie on the par-3 12th and made a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-5 13th. Then, after Stark bogeyed the par-4 16th two groups ahead, Green ran in a 25-footer for eagle from the fringe on 13 to open a four-stroke lead, and made it 5 under in five holes with a birdie on 16.
Stark finished with a 68, rebounding from the bogey on 16 to birdie the final two holes. The 24-year-old Swede also finished second last week outside Houston in The Chevron Championship, two strokes behind top-ranked Nelly Korda in the first major of the year.
Haeran Ryu (69) was third at 6 under, followed by fellow South Korean players Jin Young Ko (67) and Jin Hee Im (72) at 5 under.
Grace Kim, four strokes ahead entering weekend after opening rounds of 64 and 66 and tied with Green for the lead after a third-round 76, finished with a 77 to tie for 25th at 1 under. She failed to make a birdie the final two days.
Korda withdrew from the Los Angeles event Monday, a day after her record-tying fifth straight victory.
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