Hyo Joo Kim won the season-opening Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic Sunday, relegating Stacy Lewis to yet another second-place finish. Kim rebounded from a bogey on the 16th hole with a 9-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th and closed with a par for a two-stroke victory over Lewis, 2015 champion Sei Young Kim and Anna Nordqvist. Hyo Joo Kim shot a 7-under 66 at the breezy Ocean Club to finish at 18-under 274. The 20-year-old South Korean player has three LPGA Tour victories, also winning the 2014 Evian Championship and 2015 Founders Cup. Needing an eagle to force a playoff, Lewis parred the par-5 18th for a 68. She has nine runner-up finishes in a 40-event victory drought that dates to June 2014. The 11-time tour winner has 22 career second-place finishes. Sei Young Kim also shot a 68, and Nordqvist had a 69. Hyo Joo Kim made three straight birdies — holing putts of 18 feet on the par-3 12th, 15 feet on the par-4 13th and 5 feet on the par-4 14th — to open a three-stroke lead. After the bogey on the difficult par-4 16th, she hit a slight draw with a 4-iron to set up the birdie putt on the 171-yard 17th. She had four birdies on the front nine, making three in a row on Nos. 4-6 and adding another on No. 8. The nine-time Korean LPGA winner parred all three par 5s on the back nine. The third-ranked Lewis parred the final three holes after birdieing Nos. 13-15. After missing long birdie tries on 16 and 17, she hit a 3-wood into the light rough near the right-side front bunkers on 18, flopped 8 feet past and two-putted for par. Sei Young Kim had a double bogey on the par-4 ninth, then rallied with four back-nine birdies. Nordqvist, tied with Charley Hull for the third-round lead, birdied the final two par 5s. Pornanong Phatlum matched the tournament record with a 65 to tie for fifth with Paula Creamer (66) and 2013 winner Ilhee Lee (68) at 15 under. Brittany Lincicome also shot a 65 to join Hull (71) and Min Seo Kwak (67) at 14 under. Megan Khang, playing her first event as an LPGA Tour member, bogeyed the final hole for a 60 to drop into a tie for 11th at 13 under. Walker leads In California, five-time PGA Tour winner Jimmy Walker led by one stroke when rain and extremely strong winds forced the suspension of play for the day during the final round at the Farmers Insurance Open Sunday. Competition was to resume Monday at 8 a.m. local time (1600 GMT), at which time strong winds are forecast to continue blowing at Torrey Pines next to the Pacific Ocean. Walker was seven-under through 10 holes, while fellow American Brandt Snedeker fired a brilliant 69 in the difficult conditions to post the clubhouse lead at six-under 282. South Korean K.J. Choi was also six-under, after 10 holes, while American Kevin Streelman (13 holes) and Swede Freddie Jacobson (11 holes) were next at five-under. — Agencies
