A-rim Kim and Hee-young Yang "Season's First Major Ends with Tied 4th Place"

Kim A-lim finished in the 'Top 5'.

On the 23rd (local time), Kim A-lim completed the 4th round of the LPGA Tour 2023 season's first major, the Chevron Championship (total prize money $5.1 million), held at The Club at Carlton Woods Jack Nicklaus Signature Course (par 72, 6,824 yards) in Houston, Texas, USA, with an even-par score, finishing tied for 4th place (8-under 280). This is her best result since tying for 5th at the Kroger Queen City Championship last September.

Kim A-rim cheers after making a birdie on the 7th hole during the final day of the Chevron Championship major. [Houston, USA = AP·Yonhap News]

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Starting tied for 6th place, 2 strokes behind, Kim A-lim exchanged 3 birdies and 3 bogeys. After a bogey on the 2nd hole (par 4), she immediately recovered with a birdie on the 3rd hole (par 3), then secured 'stepping stone birdies' on the 7th and 9th holes to continue competing for the win. However, bogeys on the 11th and 13th holes caused a sudden halt, and she failed to reduce her score on the remaining 5 holes. Missing the green 7 times, she struggled to create birdie opportunities. She made 30 putts.

Lilia Bugga lowered her score by 4 strokes to tie with Angel Yin (both from the USA) at 10-under 278, then secured the 'winning birdie' on the first hole of the playoff resumed at the 18th hole (par 5). This is her second career win, two months after her first victory at the Honda LPGA Thailand in February, with a winner's prize of $765,000 (approximately 1 billion KRW). World No. 2 Nelly Korda (USA) settled for 3rd place (9-under 279).

South Korea's Yang Hee-young, who started 3rd place just 1 stroke behind, struggled with a 1-over par and dropped to tied 4th. World No. 3 Ko Jin-young surged with a 4-under par round to climb to tied 9th place (7-under 281). Kim Hyo-joo finished 11th (6-under 282), and Choi Hye-jin was 17th (3-under 285). Jeon In-ji's challenge for the 'Career Grand Slam' ended tied for 18th (2-under 286).

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