For the second time in three tournaments, an eagle in the final round made the difference in winning a LPGA event.
Three weeks ago, Minjee Lee made a back-nine eagle en route to her first LPGA victory at the Kingsmill Championship. Last week at the Manulife LPGA Classic, Suzann Pettersen broke a victory drought thanks to a third-round eagle on the par-5 ninth hole and then surged with an eagle on Sunday at the par-5 12th hole that she called a “game changer.” She shot 66-69 on the weekend.
Pettersen was the only player last week to make multiple eagles on the weekend. There were 12 weekend eagles – including Canadian Natalie Gleadall’s third-round eagle on the par-4 13th hole – to bring the season total to 127. That increased the total money raised for the Wounded Warrior Project to $127,000.
The Wounded Warrior Weekend takes place during the final two rounds at LPGA tournaments (final round only in 54-hole events), with CME Group donating $1,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project for each eagle that is recorded. This amount will increase to $5,000 for each eagle during the weekend of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship and a formal check will be presented to the Wounded Warrior Project during the trophy ceremony. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.
For the 2014 season, 283 eagles were made on the weekend, raising $283,000. While no eagles were made on the weekend in Naples, the CME Group generously rounded up to $300,000. The 2014 season also had a lot of aces and double eagles. Of the 31 holes in one, 15 came in weekend play. Of a record four double eagles during the year, three were scored on the weekend.