In Gee Chun wins the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

In Gee Chun held on to win her third major Sunday after topping the field at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

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Despite shooting back-to-back rounds of 3-over 75 on the weekend Chun won by one at Congressional Country Club.

Chun, who hadn’t won on the LPGA Tour since 2018, finished at 5 under for the week. She won $1.35 million for her win, one of the richest prizes in all of women’s golf.

“Golf is never easy,” said Chun. “Still, I can’t believe I made win. That’s why I feel really emotionally now. I think, ‘In Gee, never give up. Then you can get something. Just don’t crack under pressure, or just keeping what you want’ because from here I said I want to see the big picture. Just trying to keep going to catch my goal.”

Minjee Lee and Lexi Thompson finished at 4 under and were tied for second.

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Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson was in the mix heading into the weekend and finished tied for 16th. It’s her third straight top-20 finish at a major this season!

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Thompson had the lead through the balance of Sunday but missed a couple of game-changing short putts late in the day which opened the door for Chun, who had been in the driver’s seat at the championship since she fired a course-record 64 on Thursday.

The last major hosted at Congressional was the 2011 U.S. Open, won by Rory McIlroy by eight shots. Chun, who did lead by seven shots at one point, and McIlroy were on similar paths until Chun struggled on the weekend. She still won wire-to-wire.

“We had kind of a similar result after three rounds, just only one was different. He made it, and then still mine was a question mark,” said Chun. “It was a lot of pressure.”

Thompson was 2 under through three holes but made four bogeys on her back nine including back-to-back on No’s 16 and 17 to let the KPMG Women’s PGA slip away.

Lee, meanwhile, was looking to win for the third time on the LPGA Tour this season. Her 2-under 70 on Sunday was one of the lowest rounds of the day.

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“I pretty much had my eye on the leaderboard the whole day,” said Lee. “I followed it pretty much every single hole when I could see it, so I knew exactly which position I was in.

“I gave it a good shot today.”

Funny enough, Lee and Chun live in the same neighbourhood in Dallas. Chun loves to cook, and often has Lee and Sei Young Kim over to her place for dinner.

“(The win) probably gives her a huge confidence boost,” said Lee of her friend. “I guess she hasn’t won for quite a while, and I think she went through a few hardships here and there, so I think she’ll be really, really happy and just grateful for everyone around her.”

Indeed, Chun hadn’t found the winner’s circle on the LPGA Tour for four years. She had struggled on the course and admitted that she went through a bought of depression. She had an animated discussion with her sister about golf and her goals last week, but when her sister said, ‘well, just quit golf’ and she knew she didn’t want to, she stepped up.

“Then I believe I still have a spirit and I saw, ‘In Gee, you still want to play golf.’ So I am trying really hard this week. Then I’m just so happy to make win after all that happened,” said Chun. “I just want to keep saying like, I’m so proud of myself.”

She has plenty of reasons to be proud after winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

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One thought on “In Gee Chun wins the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship”

  1. Henderson has to learn that long swings don’t have accuracy on various shorter shots. 1/4 – 1/2 – 3/4 swings have to be learned and timed for precise shots. Her overlong swing works on power shots (drives etc.) but doesn’t get her close to the hole for better scoring. Also her chipping and putting require a lot of practice.