The Florida native arrived in Northern Ireland this week with no clubs and no clothes (got to love airline travel) and just one top-20 finishes so far in 11 starts as a rookie on the LPGA Tour. And when Pano shot a disappointing six-over 76 in Thursday’s opening round at Galgorm Castle, it looked like this wouldn’t be her week either. But the former junior phenom who first gained noteriety as a 7-year-old in the documentary “The Short Game” shinned over the last 54 holes, shooting rounds of 70-69-66, including birdies on her final two holes, to get to eight under total and find herself in a three-way playoff with England’s Gabriella Cowley and Germany’s Esther Henseleit. Then with a birdie on the third playoff hole, Pano grabbed the win, joining Daniel Brown, who claimed DP World Tour title being run in the concurrent men’s event on the course.
Pano was fortunate to get to the third playoff hole. After missing the fairway on the par 5, she scrambled to make a par, then watched Cowley, the overnight leader, miss a four-foot birdie try that would have given her the victory.
Pano is the second 19-year-old to win an LPGA this season, joining Rose Zhang, and the eighth first-time LPGA winner. With the victory, she grabbed the first-place prize money payout of $225,000 from the overall purse of $1.5 million (she had only made $33,548 in her LPGA career before the win). Pano also jumped to 38th in the Race to the CME Globe Tour Championship points standings from 132nd.
Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer who made the cut at Galgorm Castle in Northern Ireland. We’ll update this list shortly after the end of the tournament with individual names and payouts.
Win: Alexa Pano, -8. $225,000
P-2: Gabriella Cowley, -8, $132,120
P-2: Esther Henseleit, -8, $132,120