The Manulife Classic marked another triumphant return to Canada for the LPGA.  A 144-player field tried their best to “Tame the Bear” in Cambridge.  But windy conditions, which started picking up Friday afternoon and reached speeds of up to 46 km/h over the weekend, made the task all the more difficult.

In the end, 72 holes were not enough to determine a winner, as it would come down to a final playoff between Lexi Thompson, In Gee Chun and Ariya Jutanugarn.

Thompson shot well for much of the tournament, and continued her dominance of the course early Sunday.  Through the front 9, Lexi held a 4-shot lead, but she started running into trouble on the 12^th hole, bogeying 4 of the final 7.

Chun had a solid final round and used a pair of birdies on 15 and 16 to get herself into contention.  But both she and Jutanugarn could only look on, for despite her troubles, Lexi Thompson still had a shot to win it at 18, only needing par on the final hole.  Unfortunately, her potential game-winner missed just right of the cup.

So, after a thrilling four days of regulation golf, all three women finished at -17.  In the first (and what would prove to be the final) playoff hole, both Thompson and Chun managed to save par, leaving Jutanugarn with a chance to win it all if she could just nail a difficult 25-foot putt for birdie.  And of course, the brilliant 21-year-old woman from Thailand managed to seize the moment…

O, Ariya!@jutanugarn slams the birdie putt home on the 1st playoff hole to win the @ManulifeClassic! pic.twitter.com/KQbtHII0rL

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 11, 2017

Not only did that putt seal the 6^th LPGA Tour win of the young Titleist ambassador’s career, but it also vaulted Ariya to number 1 in the women’s world rankings, ending Lydia Ko’s 85-week reign as the top female golfer.  Jutanugarn becomes the second youngest player in LPGA history and third youngest golfer ever, male or female, to reach the number 1 ranking in professional golf.  She is also the only golfer from Thailand to ever become the world’s number 1 ranked player.

While they may not have reached their ultimate goals, a pair of Canadian golfers also faired extremely well at this year’s Manulife Classic.  Alena Sharp found herself among the top of the leaderboard for much of the tournament, and despite struggling a bit in the final round, she still managed to come away with a top-15 finish.  It was a nice return home for the 12-year veteran of the LPGA Tour, being a native of nearby Hamilton, ON.

It was also a nice showing for our young Golf Town ambassador, Brooke Henderson.  She notched her 7^th top-15 finish this year and fell just one stroke shy of her 3^rd top-10.  It was easily Brooke’s best showing at the Manulife Classic and her best showing at any LPGA tournament held in her home and native land.  She’ll have a chance to improve on that mark when the Tour comes back to Canada later this year at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open August 24^th–27^th.