Minjee Lee on Sunday after her victor on the Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship.

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Minjee Lee hit Sunday’s finest shot, and he or she gained the LPGA’s Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship in a playoff. When you’re coming right here for the elevator-ride wrap-up, there you go. However it is best to keep some time! There was a lot extra happening Sunday at Kenwood Nation Membership in Cincinnati. 

Like Lexi Thompson! GOLF’s Alan Bastable documented it effectively right here, however one in every of golf’s hottest gamers has struggled this yr. She’s missed five-straight cuts. She’s in jeopardy of shedding her full enjoying privileges for 2024. Sunday? She completed tied for nineteenth, her finest end since … final November. 

There’s extra. 

Like Ruoning Yin! That is one thing. Final April, she was floating round 450th on the earth. Then? In March, she gained the LA Open. In June, she gained a significant, the Ladies’s PGA. And on Monday, she’ll get up as the brand new world No. 1. She’s additionally simply 20 years outdated. 

There’s extra. 

Like Charley Hull! She’s been in your TV typically this yr. We gained’t quickly overlook that “shy children don’t get sweets” line from the U.S. Open, the place she ignored laying up from below the tree in the midst of Pebble Seashore’s iconic 18th gap and blasted one forward in hopes of a win. She completed runner-up there. She completed second on the Ladies’s Open. She hit Sunday’s second-best shot. Extra on that beneath. 

There’s extra. 

Like Lee’s shot that she airmailed out of bounds on the par-5 twelfth whereas holding a four-shot lead! 

Say what?

Actually! OK, it was ugly. However the response wasn’t. Having led by 5 after 10 holes, she grimaced for a sec on 12. Briefly, she lowered her head. Then she was handed a brand new ball, made double bogey and marched to 13. Notably, Hull, her closest pursuer coming into the opening, had bogeyed after hitting into water, and Lee led by three.

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Then the lead was two, when Hull dropped her tee shot on the par-3 14th to eight toes and dropped the putt. However Lee marched forward. 

Then the lead was one, when Hull curled in a 10-footer on the par-5 fifteenth. However Lee marched on. 

Then the lead was none, when Hull rolled in a 15-footer on the par-4 sixteenth. It was her third-straight birdie. However sure, Lee marched on. They remained knotted, and Lee and Hull moved to a playoff. 

The place we bought the second-best shot of the day! 

Again on the par-4 18th, Hull despatched her second shot over the inexperienced and up towards tent seating. She dropped. From about 60 toes away, she selected putter. Notably, a number of toes in entrance of her was a brownish patch of grime that had been positioned to cowl up an influence line. It didn’t matter. She putted to an inch. 

However sure, Lee marched on. She parred to match Hull. They went again to 18 for a second playoff gap. 

The place we bought the shot of the day! 

From the tee, Lee discovered the left tough. It was buried. It didn’t matter. She labored an iron to about 30 yards wanting the inexperienced, her ball took a number of skips, and it rolled to 2 toes. However you recognize our entire ‘marching on’ theme? She did that right here, too. Performed it cool. On the inexperienced, Hull missed her birdie try, Lee didn’t, and he or she was your winner. She’s already among the many recreation’s elite — this was her ninth LPGA win, two of them being majors — and this effort was a gritty one. 

Whew. 

On Golf Channel afterward, to on-course reporter Kay Cockerill, Lee added this:

“I believe I had a number of moments the place I used to be like, I actually felt like I used to be shedding, however I wasn’t. The rating was we have been just about tied.

“However I used to be similar to, let’s simply play till the tip and see the place it finally ends up. So I simply didn’t quit. I simply performed each shot to one of the best I might after which, you recognize, gained the playoff, so it feels good.”

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Nick Piastowski
Patacon.org Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Patacon.org and Golf Journal. In his position, he’s accountable for modifying, writing and creating tales throughout the golf area. And when he’s not writing about methods to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native might be enjoying the sport, hitting the ball left, proper and quick, and ingesting a chilly beer to scrub away his rating. You’ll be able to attain out to him about any of those subjects — his tales, his recreation or his beers — at [email protected].