GOLF: Miyu Yamashita beats Lottie Woad in playoff to win Meijer LPGA title

Miyu Yamashita of Japan fired a final-round 64, then defeated England's Lottie Woad on the first playoff hole to capture the Meijer LPGA Classic title on Sunday in Belmont, Mich.

The pair replayed the par-5 18th hole at Blythefield Country Club, where Yamashita got much closer to the pin than Woad on their third shots. Woad missed her birdie try and Yamashita rolled in a short putt for the win.

The 2025 Women's Open champion and LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year, Yamashita now has her third LPGA title and will move up to third in the Race for the CME Globe season-long points race.

Yamashita, 24, began the day five strokes behind 54-hole leader Jing Yan.

"It had like a score gap with the top" to begin the day, Yamashita said through a translator on the TV broadcast. "But this week I had really good feeling, so I'm really happy to win."

Woad nearly stole a memorable win when she holed out for birdie from the sand at the par-4 17th hole.

That put her at 18 under and meant she needed to par No. 18 to win outright. But a 4-foot putt to clinch the title lipped out, and she took bogey and headed to the playoff.

"Obviously 17 was pretty -- a bonus," Woad said. "Didn't have the easiest bunker shot and obviously made it. Thought it was going a little bit past, so was happy with that.

"Felt like I hit an OK putt (at No. 18). Obviously lipped out on the high side. Yeah, Miyu played great in the playoff hole."

Yamashita birdied five of her first seven holes to close the gap. She added birdies at Nos. 10, 11 and 13 before hitting her only speed bump with a bogey at the par-3 15th. Yamashita hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation during the round.

Meanwhile, Yan -- a 30-year-old vet seeking her first career win -- was the second- and third-round leader but couldn't keep up. She bogeyed twice and birdied twice in her first five holes and was stuck on 14 under for a while. After bogeying her final two holes, Yan signed for a 1-over 73 and tied for seventh at 13 under.

Taiwan's Wei-Ling Hsu and China's Yan Liu posted matching 67s and tied for third at 15 under. Another stroke back at 14 under were South Korea's Miinji Kang (66) and Australia's Cassie Porter (70). Yan was tied with Grace Kim of Australia (66) and Minami Katsu of Japan (67).

-Field Level Media/Reuters