Leona Maguire saved her best round for the last day of action at the Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Florida.
The Cavan native had carded three consecutive level-par 72s but on Sunday at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, she posted a four-under 68 to finish in a four-way tie for 12th as the 2024 LPGA season officially got under way.
The Tournament of Champions is open to players who won an LPGA event over the past two seasons and does not feature a 36-hole cut.
Maguire won the LPGA Drive On Championship two years ago before adding a second victory on tour last June at the Meijer LPGA Classic.
New Zealand's Lydia Ko won the tournament by two strokes on 14-under after a two-under 70 on Sunday.
Alexa Pano [70] started and finished the day two shots behind Ko and placed second at 12-under.
Canada's Brooke Henderson, the defending champion, placed third at 10-under after a 68.
Ko was in the field on the strength of three victories in 2022, but she did not win an official event stateside in 2023.
Now the 26-year-old has her 20th career LPGA title. She is the seventh player to reach the mark before turning 27.
"I think the finish that I had last year, not only winning Grant Thornton [a mixed-team exhibition] but I played really well in Korea and in Malaysia,"said Ko, who takes up residence in Orlando.
"Maybe if I had found the keys that I found then a little earlier, maybe I could have had a better season.
"I think if you keep going down a spiral of thinking like 'What if,' it's endless. I worked hard in the two weeks leading up to this event. To win at home has been nice."
Ko's lead was not seriously threatened after she birdied six, nine and 10 tomove to 15 under before her first bogey at the par-5 11th. Pano struggled out of the gate, with two bogeys and two birdies over her first 15 holes.
By the time Pano birdied 16 and 17, it was too little, too late. Ko birdied 15 before a closing bogey.
Like Maguire, Henderson had her best round of the week, with all four of her birdies coming in a five-hole stretch from seven to 11 while she stayed bogey-free.
"The game plan was to try and climb the leaderboard as much as possible, stick to the game plan," Henderson said.
"To shoot minus-four in these conditions, I'm really happy with. It was very cold and very windy."
Cheyenne Knight [69], Ally Ewing [72] and Japan's Ayaka Furue [71] tied for fourth at eight-under. Rose Zhang started her first full season on tour with tied for seventh with England's Charley Hull, as both players shot 71 and finished seven-under.
Additional reporting: Reuters
