By Tom Zulewski, Iron County Today
IVINS – As she stood over her birdie putt on the 18th green, Haeran Ryu of South Korea had a recent history that was full of challenges. After missing out on five previous attempts with the 54-hole lead in her career – including at last week’s Chevron Championship, the first major of the season – Ryu left little doubt she would pass the test this time around.
Finishing with a birdie at the par-5 18th hole, Ryu carded an 8-under 64 and won the inaugural LPGA Black Desert Championship by five strokes over Ruoning Yin of China and Germany’s Esther Henseleit. She earned $450,000 for the third win of her LPGA career and made every putt that mattered between her and her playing partners, who combined for only one bogey in the final round.
“Everyone made some pretty good play today in my group,” Ryu said. “When they made birdie, I wanted to make birdie. We all played together really well.”
Facing a shot from 249 yards into the par-5 13th hole, Ryu hit a 3-wood that rolled up a slope, missed the fringe, and came back to within 5 feet of the hole. She went on to make the eagle putt and move to 24-under, pushing her lead to four shots over Henseleit and Yin, who made par on the hole.
Henseleit was poised to make a challenge as she carded five birdies on the front nine, but couldn’t make another one on the inward nine until the 18th hole.
“I probably holed all the really good chances on the front nine. Just couldn’t keep it up on the back,” Henseleit said of her 66 in the final round,. “I knew I would have to shoot something pretty low to have a chance, so you have to kind of go out there and just hit the shots.”
Yin, who shot a tournament-low 10-under 62 on Saturday, didn’t lose momentum in the final round until a double-bogey at the par-4 16th. She landed in a greenside bunker on the approach shot. From the sand, Yin’s shot landed on the edge of the green, but caught a downhill slope and rolled back into the fairway.
“I think my game is pretty solid. Even this week, I played 70 good holes,” Yin said.
She also gave credit to her caddie for keeping her head in the game.
“Dave kept telling me you don’t have to be perfect. Just play your shot and don’t try to be perfect every time,” Yin said. “h
Yin had been the strongest challenge for Ryu until she found a greenside bunker at the par-4 16th hole. Her shot out of the sand landed on the green, but caught a downhill slope and rolled back into the fairway.
One notable highlight shot from the final round came from Stephanie Kyriacou of Australia when she had a double-eagle 2 on the par-5 18th.The Australian hit a 5-wood from 231 yards that landed short, but rolled the remaining distance and found its way into the cup.
With the shot, Kyriacou moved from a tie for 12th into a tie for 6th at 16-under par.
“I was just trying to hit it on the green, to be honest,” Kyriacou said. “I stopped watching it and everyone was like ‘whoa, whoa, whoa,’ and then they cheered. I was like ‘oh, that’s pretty good.”
With video evidence available, Kyriacou won’t be calling her final-round achievement the double eagle for a simple reason.
“Albatross, definitely. (Double eagle), too many words,” she joked.
Caption: Haeran Ryu receives the Black Desert Championship trophy from Utah Lt. Gov. Deirdre Henderson on the 18th green Sunday.
