Long story short, 54-hole leader Minjee Lee shot a final-round 70 to pull out a victory at the Cognizant Founders Cup by two shots over Lexi Thompson and continue the event’s uncanny history of its winners all also being major champions.
But that leaves out how tight things got on Sunday for the 25-year-old Aussie at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, N.J., where Thompson, trying to win for the first time in three years, applied plenty of heat. Thompson made three birdies over her first 12 holes to catch Lee at 17 under.
Lee played solid golf on Sunday, her putter not being entirely cooperative on the day. She made a bogey on the eighth hole and a birdie on the 12th, then one more birdie on the 14th to take back the outright lead. A last birdie for good measure on the 18th hole left Lee at 19-under 269 total to claim her seventh career LPGA title and the first since she won the Amundi Evian Championship last July.
With the victory, Lee claimed the $450,000 first place prize money payout from the $3 million purse that was up for grabs. Here’s the prize money payouts for each golfer who made the cut in the Cognizant Founders Cup.
Win: Minjee Lee, -19, $450,000
2: Lexi Thompson, -17, $273,190
T-3: Madelene Sagstrom, -16 $175,744
T-3: Angel Yin, -16 $175,744
5: Carlota Ciganda, -15, $123,396