-The way LPGA scoring leader Minjee Lee has been playing, winning was only a matter of time.
The title came in the Cognizant Founders Cup on Sunday after a final round in which the Australian golfer wasn’t playing her best.
Lee made her only three birdies on the back nine and held off Lexi Thompson by two shots to win her seventh career title and first since taking her first major at last year’s Evian Championship.
“I just feel like I’ve kind of been trending,” said Lee, who also has a tie for second and a tie for third among her seven starts this year. “I’ve been hitting it really, really well this whole — I mean, this whole season, and I just felt like it was kind of around the corner. I kept knocking on the door, and here I am now.”
Lee took the lead for good with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 14th hole at Upper Montclair Country Club. She closed with a 2-under 70, her only round not in the 60s, for a 72-hole total of 19-under 269 in the event that honors the 13 founding members of the LPGA Tour.
She steadied herself after what she called a “good” bogey on the par-3 eighth. Her ball landed on the sod wall of the bunker and she put her second shot in the sand playing from an awkward stance, but she got up and down from there.
“I was actually quite calm the whole day,” Lee said. “My emotion was actually quite just very, very level, so it was just nice just to win. I think that’s why I celebrated.”
Looking for her first LPGA Tour win since 2019, Thompson rallied from 3 down and grabbed a share of the lead with a birdie at No. 10. Thompson and Lee traded birdies on the par-5 12th, but Thompson closed with six straight pars for a 69. Thompson had birdie opportunities on the final two holes that she failed to convert before Lee closed it in style with a short birdie of her own.
It was Thompson’s second runner-up in six events this year.