SHOAL CREEK, ALABAMA: Ariya Jutanugarn suffered women's golf worst blow-up ever, losing a 7-shot lead on just the final nine holes of the US Women's Open, but then won the tournament in a playoff.
Ariya triple-bogeyed the par-4 10th hole but still was six shots ahead of South Korea's Hyo Joo Kim, who had finished Day 1 of the tournament in 90th place and went into Sunday's final round in 19th. Kim seemed destined to finish a distant second.
Then Ariya bogeyed the 12th hole, then the par-5 17th and, still one shot in the lead, bogeyed the par-4 18th hole for a nine-hole score of 41 and the worst blow-up in memory in women's golf.
She missed a 10-foot putt that would have won it at the 18th, shooting a final one-over-par 73 in the fourth round on Sunday, while Kim carded 67 to tie it at 11-under-par 277.
The two playoff holes at the Shoal Creek Country Club were an anti-climax. Kim beat Ariya 4-3 on the first hole, while the Thai won the second hole by the same score and they went to a sudden-death format at the course's 14th hole.
There, they halved the hole and trudged to the 18th to tee off in a second sudden-death duel, where Ariya won the tournament.