After a rollercoaster final round and two playoff holes, Emma Talley was finally subdued by Pajaree Anannarukarn.
Anannarukarn sank a 10-foot par putt on the par-5 18th hole at Galgorm Golf Club to claim the championship of the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by Modest! Golf Management in Northern Ireland.
Talley, Anannarukarn and Jennifer Kupcho all entered Sunday’s final round tied atop the leaderboard at 13-under.
Talley led for much of Sunday’s round, even building a two-shot advantage at one point.
However, back-to-back bogeys by Talley, coupled with three straight birdies by Kupcho, left Talley trailing Kupcho by two shots with three holes remaining.
But Talley and Anannarukarn both birdied the par-4 17th hole to draw even with Kupcho — who bogeyed 16 — and send all three players to the 18th hole tied once again at 16-under.
Kupcho missed out on the playoff when her third shot found the water to the left of the green on No. 18 and she finished with a bogey.
Meanwhile, Talley and Anannarukarn played on after both made short putts for par.
The duo both found the fairway bunker off the tee in the first playoff hole but still recorded pars after two-putting from a lengthy distance on the green.
The pair played the 18th again, with Talley again putting her tee shot in the bunker. Her layup was tugged left and wound up in the rough. Her third shot was then flared to the right, bounding through the gallery near the 18th green.
Meanwhile, Anannarukarn was on the back part of the green in regulation but caught a flyer out of the rough on her third shot and was a long way from the front pin location.
Talley’s fourth shot was chipped just short of the green. She then missed a putt from about 20 feet away before cleaning up for bogey.
Anannarukarn was forced to putt through the edge of the fringe with her first putt, but knocked home her second putt to nail down the championship.
Talley finished her strongest week ever on the LPGA Tour with a 3-under round of 70.
That followed a 67, 65 and 73 in the first three rounds of the World Invitational.
Her second-place finish is her highest ever on the LPGA Tour. It comes just four weeks after her previous highest finish — a fourth-place showing in the Volunteers of America Classic in the Dallas area.
Talley now has over $900,000 in career earnings on the LPGA Tour.
Her payday in Northern Ireland was $130,553.
