Thompson eagles 18 to capture Shoprite Classic

New York: Lexi Thompson eagled her closing hole on Sunday for a four-under 67, coming from behind in the final round to capture the Shoprite Classic tournament by one stroke. Thompson, who finished runner-up at last week’s US Women’s Open, carded at 12-under 201 total at the Seaview Golf Club in Galloway, New Jersey. “It was all a matter of just trusting my shots, trusting the lines,” said Thompson. “The bogeys on the back nine, they weren’t bad shots or bad bogeys, so you just have to let them go.” She finished one shot in front of 36-hole leader Lee6 Jeong-eun for her 11th LPGA title, and it came at the site of her first professional win nine years ago. “I knew coming into the day that it was going to play very difficult, just because this golf course can get so windy and it’s a lot of crosswinds,” said Thompson. The win gives Thompson the longest win streak on the USLPGA Tour, with a victory in each of the past seven seasons. She is also the 13th different winner this season. She combatted three bogeys with five birdies and sealed the deal with an eagle. The 24-year-old Florida native started the day two strokes behind second-round leader Lee, who stumbled on the back nine with three straight bogeys on holes 13-15. Thompson took advantage of the par fives over the 54 hole tournament, going 11 under on those. Lee shot a final round 70 to reach 11-under 202 and American Ally McDonald finished by herself in third place after shooting 70 for a nine-under total. Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist fired a 69 to finish at seven under for fourth place, while a trio of players finished tied for fifth at six under, including Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn (68), China’s Liu Yu (72) and Mariah Stackhouse (74). Tour rookie Lily He Muni of China had the best opening round of her brief career with a 64 on Friday but then stumbled to the finish with a 78 on Sunday. He, a 19-year-old who already has 220,000 Instagram followers, finished in a tie for 64th. — AFP