Kiwi Lydia Ko has recovered from a horror start on the final night of the Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic to finish tied for 10th after a 6-under 72 while Australian Minjee Lee won the tournament following a playoff with Celine Boutier from France.
The final round of the event was held completely under lights at the Emirates Golf Club and Ko got off to a horrible start shooting five bogeys on the front nine to be well out of contention as she turned for home.
Her back nine improved with three birdies and no bogeys to finish 4 shots from the leaders.
Australia’s Minjee Lee captured her first Ladies European Tour title with a clutch birdie putt from 20ft at the first extra hole to beat Boutier in a thrilling shoot-out under the Middle Eastern moonlight.
Following in the footsteps of previous champions including Annika Sorenstam, Lexi Thompson and Shanshan Feng, Lee came into the week as the highest-ranked star and left on top of the 56-player field, collecting the $64,000 (NZD) winner’s prize and the iconic ‘coffee pot inspired’ trophy.
“I couldn’t really see the break too well on the last hole, but I thought it would be about two cups outside the right and luckily I hit it hard enough and it dropped,” Lee said.
“It feels pretty special to be here playing at night-time and the course has been amazing It’s been a really fun week.”
Aside from the top of the leaderboard, Scotland’s Kylie Henry had a day to remember, firing a course-record round of 63 to catapult herself from three-over-par to six-under-par and into the top ten.
Speaking about the round, Walker said, “It’s my lowest stroke play round and It felt great. I hit it solid all round and was hitting it fairly close on most holes. The main highlight was the par 3 8th when I hit it to a foot with my 8 iron.”
