Apr 27, 2025; The Woodlands, Texas, USA; Mao Saigo of Japan hits a tee shot on the first hole during the final round of The Chevron Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images Mao Saigo of Japan rolled in a 5-foot birdie putt to win a historic and chaotic five-woman playoff at the Chevron Championship, capturing her first major title on Sunday in The Woodlands, Texas.
Saigo, who began the day tied for the lead with South Korea’s Haeran Ryu, carded a 2-over-par 74 at The Club at Carlton Woods, needing birdie at the par-5 18th to advance to the playoff.
Saigo, Ruoning Yin of China, Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea, Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand and Lindy Duncan all finished regulation at 7-under-par 281. It marked the largest playoff at an LPGA major in history.
Jutanugarn led for most of the day and needed par at the last hole to win outright. However, in a bizarre sequence on her third stroke, she missed nearly her entire ball, which moved very slightly forward. She wound up with a bogey, opening the door for the playoff.
The five players returned to the 18th tee. Yin was the only player to hit the green in two shots, but she badly misread the midrange eagle putt and also lipped out her birdie try. While Duncan ended up with a bogey, Kim and Jutanugarn also missed their birdies.
That left Saigo, who went over the green on her second shot and pitched it to about 5 feet for the winning birdie.
Saigo, 23, had not won on American soil before Sunday. Ranked 37th in the world, her six career victories all came on the LPGA of Japan Tour.
Jutanugarn, a two-time major champion, started the day three off the pace but birdied the second, eagled the par-5 fourth and birdied the par-5 eighth to shoot up to 10 under. Bogeys at Nos. 9 and 13 pulled her down, but she maintained the lead.
Duncan briefly tied her at 8 under with birdies at Nos. 13-14 but bogeyed the following two holes.
With water protecting the green at No. 18, Jutanugarn hit her second shot over the green and hit it off the base of a grandstand. She was not granted relief because she wasn’t close enough to the structure. That’s when she completely missed her ball on her third shot, incurring a stroke.
Jutanugarn got the ball on the green in four and missed her par putt, dropping to 7 under. At the same time, Yin birdied the 18th to tie Jutanugarn and Kim (in the clubhouse with a 70) for the lead.
In the final group, Saigo and Duncan birdied No. 18 to join the playoff. Duncan was the only player who didn’t aim for the grandstand. She blew an eagle putt from off the green 10 feet past the hole, but she made the comebacker for birdie.
Ryu — the co-leader with Saigo through 54 holes — had a round to forget, but a final shot to remember, as she pitched in for eagle at No. 18 to finish with a 76 and share sixth place at 5 under with countrywoman Jin Young Ko (70) and Sarah Schmelzel (74).
–Field Level Media
