Kim edges Ariya 1-up to win LPGA Match Play title

AFP: South Korea’s 12th-ranked Kim Sei-Young edged Thailand’s third-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn 1-up in the final to win the Lorena Ochoa Match Play title and capture her sixth career LPGA triumph.

Kim, the 2015 LPGA Rookie of the Year, collected her first victory since last June’s Meijer LPGA Classic, winning the first three holes and fighting off a late comeback to win the first LPGA match-play event since 2012

“It was a really tough day today,” said Kim, who trailed for only four of the 95 holes she played at Club de Golf Mexico. “I never had such a hard win like today. I am happy that I was able to win and hold this trophy.”

Ariya, who captured the first of her five LPGA titles exactly a year ago, had defeated American Michelle Wie 4 and 3 in the morning semi-finals while Kim downed 25th-ranked compatriot Hur Mi-Jung 5 and 4.

Hur outlasted Wie in 22 holes in the third-place match.