Team TaylorMade's Ryu Hae-ran won the Amundi Evian Championship on the LPGA Tour, claiming back-to-back major titles.
Ryu finished regulation at 19-under-par 265 on Monday before heading to a playoff, where she sealed the victory with a birdie on the first extra hole. Having claimed her first major title at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship last month, she lifted a second major trophy just two weeks later, giving her two major wins this season and five LPGA Tour victories overall.
The most striking moment of her winning run came in the third round, when Ryu carded an eagle and nine birdies for an 11-under-par 60 — the first sub-61 round in the history of any men's or women's major championship and a new scoring record.
Since her KPMG victory, attention had been drawn to the TaylorMade TP5 ball Ryu plays, which is stamped with the number "62" and a sun symbol on the side. The "62" represents her previous personal best score, while the sun references the character "hae" — meaning sun — in her name. At the Evian Championship, she bettered that personal best by two strokes, shooting the 60 that now makes the number on her ball a relic of a former record.
In an interview after her KPMG win, Ryu said a golf ball must be "all-around" because it has to handle every shot from the driver to the approach. "I have confidence that the TP5 will respond the way I expect it to," she said, "so even in situations where there is a lot to think about, I was able to trust the ball and work through my round."
yjc@heraldcorp.com
