Frenchwoman Perrine Delacour played with a heavy heart on Sunday. Her close friend Joel Mirbey, a fellow French citizen she knows from her U.S. base of Orlando, died on Saturday after a six-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
“I was telling the family yesterday I was going to play for him today,” said Delacour. “Like I say on the first day, I had a little star with me and he was with me today all day long. So I'm really happy that I did it for him.”
Delacour did her friend proud, carding a 3-under 69 on Sunday and finishing in solo fourth at -5, the second-best finish of her LPGA Tour career.
“It was hard yesterday, I'm kind of glad we didn't play. But I played really good today, I played for him today,” said Delacour. “So I'm finishing in top 10, which is the first one since almost last year COVID hit, so I'm really happy about it and just keep the momentum for next week.”