Ayaka Furue (-19) has conquered this Sunday the first Major of her career after imposing herself in a movie-like ending against the Australian Stephanie Kyriacou (-18) and the Thai Patty Tavatanakit (-17) at the Evian Championship. The 24-year-old Japanese golfer, born in Kobe and Number 21 in the world ranking, has come from almost nowhere to win the tournament with a sublime partial of five under par in the last five holes for a total of 65 strokes.
Furue has chained three consecutive birdies on holes 14, 15 and 16, but still needed a final twist to have any chance of victory. Nothing better than finishing with an eagle on the 18th, playing the hole by the book and sinking a putt of about three meters to crown herself in the fourth Major of the year, the only one held on continental Europe.
With the eagle, she surpassed Tavatanakit, who had put a lot of pressure coming from behind in the classification with a card of 63 strokes and a demanding result in the clubhouse of -17. In addition, she forced Kyriacou to sign another eagle, who went out to the last hole with a total of -17, tied with Furue and Tavatanakit. However, the Australian had to settle for the birdie and will have to keep waiting for her first triumph in a Major.
The Evian is the icing on the cake of a very solid season for the Japanese golfer. She had been warning. In fact, she arrived in France with a streak of four top 10s in her last five tournaments and five top 20s. She has 16 top 10s in the last two seasons on the LPGA, more than any other player. In addition, in the Majors she had 4 top 10s in the 16 she had played. Her best result had been, precisely, in the Evian in 2021, when she finished fourth.
On the other hand, Marta Martín (+8) has said goodbye with a card of 74 strokes in the last round, three over par, with a roller coaster end of round: bogey, birdie, triple bogey, bogey and birdie in her last five holes.
