ROGERS -- The majority of the Pinnacle Country Club gallery, in particular the fans at the 17th hole, never knew what was going on as Na Yeon Choi approached her second shot at the 16th hole in Sunday's final round of the LPGA Northwest Arkansas Championship.
Then came a 1-2 punch of 8 irons, gut shots to World No. 3 Stacy Lewis, the obvious fan favorite and the 2014 champion.
Choi, a 27-year-old South Korean, holed out for eagle on the 16th, then nearly aced the par-3 17th to post a come-from behind two-stroke victory.
Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) led by one shot when she stuck her tee shot 6 feet behind the hole at 17, moments before Choi, playing in the final group, launched an 8-iron on the par-4 16th that bounced once and into the hole for an eagle that catapulted her into the lead at 14 under.
Lewis, unaware of what happened behind her, missed her attempt at birdie, which would have kept her tied for the lead. Further, she didn't know more bad news was on the way as she prepared to tee off on the 18th.
Choi stuck another 8-iron dagger, this one within a foot at the par-3 17th, setting up a tap-in birdie that would take her to her winning 15-under score..
"If someone asked me what's your favorite club I always answer the 8-iron," Choi said. "So I like that club and when I pull the 8-iron I always feel good."
Choi went from a one-shot deficit into a two-shot lead in mere minutes, leaving Lewis needing a miracle 18th-hole eagle to forge a tie.
But Lewis, a two-time major champion who hasn't won on the LPGA Tour since last year's Northwest Arkansas Championship, laid up from 210 yards with her second shot on the par-5 finishing hole, missed the green with her third and ended up with a bogey to drop into a tie for third place at 12 under.
Lewis' playing partner Mika Miyazato birdied two of her final three holes to finish second outright at 13 under.
Lewis finished tied with Azahara Munoz and Anna Nordqvist for third. World No. 2 Lydia Ko fired a final-round 63 to move from 40th into a tie for sixth.
Lewis said that she did not know Choi had holed out on the 16th to take the lead, but was well informed as she walked to her ball on the 525-yard final hole.
"I knew I was two behind coming down 18, but I wasn't really paying attention to the leader boards all day to know exactly what she had done," Lewis said. "I knew I needed to make eagle there and just didn't quite get the drive down to do that."
Choi played it safe on the 18th despite not finding the fairway with her tee shot and made par, breaking through in a tournament where she's had a top-10 finish in four of the previous seven years.
Choi came into the final round with a two-stroke lead and was four up on Lewis, who started the day tied for fourth. But Lewis moved into a tie for the lead in her first seven holes with birdies on Nos. 1, 5 and 7, while Choi made bogey on No. 6. Lewis grabbed the outright lead when Choi bogeyed the 13th and Miyazato double-bogeyed the same hole, despite missing consecutive birdie attempts on the 11th through 17th holes,
Lewis nearly holed out on the 16th as well, missing the stick by inches and ending up 8 feet from the hole. On 17 she got a kind bounce beyond a bunker and landed within 6 feet. She would miss both birdie attempts.
"I played 10 really good holes, 10 holes the way I had planned, the way I wanted things to go.," said Lewis, who settled for her third top-five finish at the tournament. "Then putts just didn't drop coming in."
Sports on 06/29/2015