Mexican Playa del Carmen – Chiser Toy Way picked up the tournament and turned it to Sunday of her own highlight show, making five birdies with the opening six holes of 6 under 66, and opening a six-shot victory at the Mexican Riviera Maya with her first LPGA title.
Ywai led from Elle Camaron’s opening hall when Birdie and Jenny Beau made the bogey, and the 22-year-old from Japan was in her middle.
“My spirit is very calm – every day, every day,” Iwai said.
She ran through four straight birdies, poured all the important putts, then went home and became the third LPGA rookie of the season.
Iwai, who was runner-up with twin sister Akki Iwai twice this year, finished with a 12-under 276.
Bee took a one-shot lead in the final round at Mayakoba, and the 10 players behind her never won the LPGA Tour.
It didn’t take long for Iwako, who won eight Japanese LPGAs before he got his LPGA card, to turn this into a defeat.
She slams the wedge into 4 feet in the third hole for a birdie. She rolled a fourth 7-foot birdie putt. Her approach to the par 5 Fifth was a green right near the water, and she gently shaved it for a third straight birdie to 2 feet. Iwai finished a big birdie run with a 15-foot putt on No. 6.
Bae bogeyed two opening holes and never caught up. She stabilized herself with the back nine to save the runner-up with 73.
“I’m just saying there’s a long way to go, but I’m getting there too,” Bae said. “That’s why I’m happy. I definitely know what I need to work on for a week for me.
Iwai’s six-shot victory coincided with the biggest margin of the year. Japan’s Riotekeda won the Blue Bay LPGA in China at the age of six.
The rock took off early, making it seem like no one was in her way. Gabriela Raffels, who birds five of her last six holes on Saturday to reach within two shots of the lead, made just one birdie in the 76 rounds.
Miranda Wang stayed in the game by stretching down his clutch par putt in the third round, closing at 76 without making a birdie. Yahui Zhang made a bogey in six of the last seven holes of the 78.
Iwai won $375,000 for her first title. It’s the first time in 10 years that the LPGA has won three rookies by the end of May.
The LPGA returned to Mexico for the first time since 2017 and didn’t attract a strong field at the US Women’s Open in Erin Hills, Wisconsin next week. No. 15 Charley Hull was the best player in the field. She didn’t break 70 all week, but tied it to the 32nd.
