Records tumble as Alison Lee wins Aramco Team Series in Riyadh by EIGHT shots
Alison Lee made up for the disappointment of play-off defeat last week with a record-breaking landslide victory at the Aramco Team Series in Riyadh on Sunday.
American Lee smashed the Ladies European Tour record for the 36-hole low score with consecutive rounds of 61 on Friday and Saturday to begin the final day on 22 under par.
From then it was a question of how low she could go, and she answered that with a 65 to finish on 29 under par and win by eight shots from Carlota Ciganda, with Charley Hull third.
Lee missed out on a new outright LET low score record when her birdie putt lipped out at the last, but by then her second Aramco Team Series individual title was a formality.
It was also perfect consolation for losing to Minjee Lee in a play-off at the BMW Ladies Open in Seoul, South Korea, seven days earlier.
“It’s surreal to think I played that well. Shooting 11-under, 11-under over the first two days, I’ve obviously never done that in my career,” said Lee.
“I feel like for three days I played really confident golf. Coming off a really good week last week gave me a lot of confidence this week.
“She [Ciganda] started off the round great but I just kept my cool. I knew I had been hitting it well. I knew there was a ton of birdie opportunities coming down the stretch.
“I’m really happy with the composure I was able to keep throughout the round. I didn’t want to embarrass myself losing a six-shot lead. It’s nice to be able to play that freely.”
Hull shot a 66 to claim third place, three strokes behind Ciganda and one ahead of fellow Englishwoman Bronte Law, who tied for fourth with Trichat Cheenglab.
In-form Minjee Lee shared sixth with Pernilla Lindberg of Sweden. England’s Georgia Hall was one shot further back, alongside world No1 Lilia Vu and South Africa’s Lee-Ann Pace.
Thai Cheenglab’s result boosted her chances of winning the LET order of merit, the Race to Costa del Sol, lifting her to third in the list behind Celine Boutier and Diksha Dagar.
Ciganda had already got her hands on one trophy in Riyadh, having captained her quartet to the team title on Saturday.
Team Ciganda, which also featured Italy’s Alessandra Fanali, Czech Sara Kouskova, and 17-year-old Saudi Arabian amateur Lujain Khalil, won by three from Cheenglab and Alison Lee’s sides.
“I’m more happy for the girls than for me, I just love team events,” said the Spaniard, who holed the putt that ensured Europe retained the Solheim Cup last month.
“The girls played amazing and we had a great amateur. She made the winning putt to help us go 41-under. I think we had fun and we were a real team.”