By Dave Reardon

Copyright staradvertiser

Youmin Hwang wandered off in the wrong direction on moving day. But she regained her magical sense of direction of two days prior when it mattered most, down the stretch of the final round at the LPGA’s Lotte Championship presented by Hoakalei on Saturday.

Hwang broke away from a traffic jam of a leaderboard with birdies on the last four holes and five of the last six at Hoakalei Country Club to shoot 5-under-par 67 for her first win in an LPGA event. The victory gives the 22-year-old sponsor’s exemption from Korea $450,000 and a spot on the American tour.

Hwang tied an event record for one round with a 10-under 62 on Thursday but misfired Friday with a 75. Still, she entered Saturday among eight players tied for second one shot behind Akie Iwai.

It ended with Hwang watching Minami Katsu and Hyo Joo Kim trying for eagles on the par-5 No. 18 hole to force a playoff.

Katsu wasn’t close. Kim’s long chip over a greenside bunker stopped about 6 feet from the hole, guaranteeing Hwang the win. She didn’t believe it at first.

“I’m a little nervous now,” Hwang said through an interpreter.

A few minutes earlier, Hwang chipped onto that same 18th green after her approach flew over it. The chip left her with a 4-foot putt, which she made to complete her streak of clutch birdies.

“I barely felt anything. … I just tried really to focus on each hole,” she said of the string of birdies. “Just for the last hole, 18th hole, I thought … I will play a little aggressively, then I could make my second shot on the green.”

Kim, who won the 2022 Lotte, is Hwang’s idol and mentor, Hwang said.

“It’s really good that I can stand alongside her,” she said.

Kim made her birdie at 18 for 68 to finish second, while Katsu settled for par and third with her 69.

Nelly Korda was among six players to have at least a share of the lead at some point during the final round. She started two shots off the lead and was in the hunt for her first win of the season most of Saturday. She tied for fourth at 14 under.

Around the time Korda finished her 69 with a par at No. 18, Hwang, Kim and Katsu were in a three-way tie for first. But Katsu and Kim, playing in the last group, behind Hwang, both bogeyed No. 17 to fall a shot behind her. Then Hwang made the insurance putt to finish her round and attended to business in the scorer’s tent. After that, she waited.

Peiyun Chien was briefly in a tie for the lead but fell out of contention with a bogey on No. 17.

Kim took the lead with a birdie at No. 11 — her fifth of the day to that point, along with one bogey.

Korda tied her briefly, when Kim’s short par putt at No. 13 rolled around the cup like a basketball, but not into it. After her tap-in, she and Korda were tied for first at 15 under. Then Korda immediately suffered a misadventure of her own at No. 16, with an errant shot leading to a bogey.

“That’s just golf,” said Korda, the former top-ranked player who won seven tournaments last season. “I think you start to appreciate it more when you kind of fall short and you appreciate the highs as much as the lows. I just love the grind.”

Allisen Corpuz, the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open winner, recovered from a double bogey on No. 14 with birdies on two of the last three holes to shoot 69 and finish the tournament at 10 under, tied for 14th.

“I honestly don’t feel like I hit that many bad shots, just made a few bad decisions,” Corpuz said. “I played really solid all week; mistakes happen out there.”

Mariel Galdiano, Corpuz’s teammate at Punahou, shot 77 and finished the tournament at 2 under par and T55.