Brittany Lincicome beat Stacy Lewis with a par on the third playoff hole to win the ANA Inspiration, the first LPGA Tour major of the season, on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.
Lincicome, who won this tournament in 2009 with an eagle on the final hole when it was known as the Kraft Nabisco Championship, closed with a 3-under-par 69 and got into the playoff with another eagle, sinking a six-foot putt on the 72nd hole.
“It was super emotional,” said Lincicome, who claimed her sixth LPGA Tour victory. “We played that hole so many times. I wasn’t nervous the first time (when she made the eagle), because I thought I was out of the tournament and didn’t have a chance.
“It was tough, especially the way it ended. It would have been nice to make a birdie to win it, but I’m so excited that I’m still shaking right now.”
Lincicome took the traditional winner’s leap into Poppie’s Pond with her caddie, father and fiance.
Lewis, who has won 11 times on the LPGA Tour including the 2011 Kraft Nabisco, shot a final-round 70 and missed putts on the final hole of regulation and the first two playoff holes that would have given her the title.
On the third extra hole, her lay-up shot stopped in a sand-filled divot and her approach spun off the front of the green. She left her chip shot short and missed a 20-foot putt for par before Lincicome two-putted to win.
“I’m disappointed, but it was bad luck to end up in that divot,” said Lewis, who has finished in the top three four times this year without winning. “I played great golf this week, so it’s hard to be too upset.”
Morgan Pressel, who won this tournament in 2007, almost holed her third shot for an eagle on the final hole but settled for a tap-in birdie that left her one stroke out of the playoff in solo third after a 70.
Rookie Sei Young Kim of South Korea, the leader after the second and third rounds who was playing in her first LPGA Tour major, struggled to a 75 and finished two shots behind in a tie for fourth with Carlotta Ciganda of Spain, who shot 68, and Anna Nordqvist of Sweden, who had a 69.
Defending champion Lexi Thompson finished birdie-eagle to close out a 70 and wound up solo seventh, while Suzann Pettersen of Noway had a 67 to end up another stroke back in a tie for eighth with Shanshan Feng of China, who totaled 72, and Mi Hwang Lee of South Korea, who came in at 71.
Top-ranked Lydia Ko of New Zealand, who in the first round tied Annika Sorenstam’s LPGA Tour record of 29 straight sub-par rounds, struggled in a third consecutive over-par round of 73 and finished in a tie for 51st.
