NAPLES, Fla. — Patty Tavatanakit holed a 25-foot birdie putt and Jake Knapp gave them the lead on the next hole with a tough putt to set up a birdie as the UCLA duo combined for a 7 -under 65 on Sunday for a one-shot victory at the Grant Thornton Invitational.
They won on their respective tours on the same day this year – Knapp at the Mexican Open, Tavatanakit at the Honda LPGA Thailand – and were equally impressive as a team, especially at Tiburon Golf Club.
Jeeno Thitikul, who won the LPGA final at Tiburon last month for the price of 4 million dollarsmade an 8-foot birdie on the final hole as she and Tom Kim shot 64 to finish alone in second.
Akshay Bhatia and Jennifer Kupcho spoiled the 18th hole for their only bogey in the modified four-ball format and finished third.
The final hour could have been a four-team affair — the Canadian tandem of Corey Conners and Brooke Henderson shot 62 and was briefly tied for the lead, although short of holes.
Knapp and Tavatanakit, who started with a two-shot lead, fell behind for the first time all day when Bhatia holed a 30-foot eagle putt at the par-5 17th.
The format required each player to hit tee shots, change balls for the next shot, and then complete the hole. Knapp’s tee shot on the par-3 16th climbed onto the green, and Tavatanakit made the left-to-right breaking putt for birdie to even the lead.
“I rode well this week,” Tavatanakit said. “It’s all been fun. The chemistry was really good.
Both were out of position from the start at the easy 17th, with Knapp in the water. Taking Tavatanakit’s tee shot, he hit from the native area to the short of the green in a slight swale. His shot settled to 3 feet for birdie and a one-shot lead over Bhatia and Kupcho.
2024 Grant Thornton Invitational Prize Money: Purse Payment for All 16 Teams
Here’s how the purse was paid out at the Grant Thornton Invitational.
On the 18th, Bhatia’s approach proved woefully short and in the water. Kupcho missed his approach to the right and his putt rolled down a slope about 10 feet. Bhatia tried to play twice from the water. Kupcho missed his putt badly.
That gave the UCLA tandem a two-shot lead, and a single par — the two missed birdie putts they didn’t need from about 10 feet — put them at 27-under 189. Each collected 500 000 out of the $4 million purse.
Kim and Thitikul finished birdie-birdie for second place, worth $280,000 each.