The Aramco Team Series came down to a battle of the captains, with Jessica Korda pulling ahead of Sophia Popov in a playoff under the lights at Glen Oaks Club, New York.
Korda’s two-hole playoff heroics on the 17th clinched her team, comprised of Karolin Lampert, Lina Boqvist, and amateur Alexandra O’Laughlin, the title after a hard-fought three rounds on the course.
Finishing 41 under par, Team Korda looked all but certain to lock up the top prize at the end of the third round, but a late surge from Team Popov forced a thrilling end to the first-ever Ladies European Tour golf event on US soil.
“It is so nice to share this win with a team. It’s such an individual sport so this is different and really cool,” said Korda, “Today we really came together, and it was one of our best days, especially on those last six holes. We were just having fun, hyping each other up.”
On how she pulled off the championship-sealing par under the floodlights, Korda says it came down to a shot in the dark.
“I’ve never played in the dark. I’ve never played under lights. It was so hard to see out there, so I really didn’t know how hard to hit it. I was just praying it was going to be somewhere up there.”
Team Korda weren’t the only winners on Saturday night, as Charley Hull took home the individual title, finishing a shot ahead of world No. 1 Nelly Korda.
“Because of the conditions, it was one of the best rounds of my life today, probably ever. The last hole was a tricky shot – it sat down a bit, but I played it perfectly,” said Hull. The Aramco championship marks Hull’s fourth career title and first since 2019.
The final leg of the Aramco Team Series will tee off in November at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.