Minjee Lee kisses the trophy after winning the Evian Championship on Sunday in Evian-Les-Bains, France. Associated Press

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — Australian golfer Minjee Lee won a sudden death playoff against overnight leader Jeongeun Lee6 to clinch the Evian Championship on Sunday for her first major title.

Lee6 had to take a drop shot when her second shot on the first extra playoff hole flew into a pond, while Lee’s superb second attempt landed near the flag.

Lee6 ended with a bogey to give the 25-year-old Lee three putts for victory and a sixth LPGA title.

She missed the first but made the second and was doused in Champagne by 2015 Evian champion Lydia Ko.

“I’m speechless … been waiting for this for so long. It just feels unreal to have won. In the playoff, and all throughout today, I played really well to get myself in that position,” she said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform, it’s just really nice to have a major title under my belt.”

Her younger brother Min Woo Lee has two wins on the men’s European Tour. He won the Scottish Open two weeks ago – also in a playoff and on the first extra hole.

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“When we were really little, we used to go down to the driving range with Mom,” she said. “We would just practice.”

Lee is the first Australian to win at Evian since seven-time major winner Karrie Webb in 2006, before it was a major.

“Actually she did message me straightaway,” Lee said of the 41-time LPGA Tour winner. “She messages me quite a bit … it’s just really nice of her.”

Lee and Lee6 had finished the fourth round at 18 under overall, but in vastly different circumstances.

Lee trailed Lee6 by seven shots overnight but drew level with a superb 7-under 64 in the final round which included four birdies on the last five holes. After drifting away, Lee6 (71) hit back with three straight birdies to force a playoff.

Teenage American Yealimi Noh (67) finished third on 17 under when she missed a birdie chance on the 18th.

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SENIOR BRITISH OPEN: Stephen Dodd birdied the final hole to win by one stroke in Sunningdale, England, holding off challenges from Miguel Angel Jimenez and Darren Clarke to secure his first major title.

The 55-year-old Welshman closed with a 2-under 68 at Sunningdale for a four-day total of 13-under 267.

Jimenez, the 2018 winner, shot 65 to finish at 12 under, while Clarke (67) was another shot behind.

Dodd equaled the low round in the history of the tournament on Saturday with an 8-under 62 that gave him a two-shot lead heading into the final round of the last senior major championship of the year.

Defending champion Bernhard Langer (68) was fourth, another two shots back. The 63-year-old Langer won in 2019 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes for his fourth victory in the event. Last year’s tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Two-time British Open champion Ernie Els (72) tied for eighth.

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A three-time European Tour winner, Dodd made his senior debut at the Senior British Open in 2016, when he had his previously best finish at the event – a share of 14th place.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Nacho Elvira squandered a six-shot overnight lead in the Wales Open and bogeyed the 18th hole before rallying to beat Justin Harding in a playoff to win his first European Tour title in Newport, Wales.

Elvira dedicated his victory to Spanish golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena, who was murdered in 2018.

Harding three-putted the first extra hole, the par-five 18th, to gift victory to Elvira, who had earlier made the same mistake when a closing par would have secured the title at Celtic Manor.

“I thought I had it all pretty much under control and to be honest I got pretty nervous on the last couple of putts on the regular 18(th),” Elvira told Sky Sports. “I was more calm in the playoff than I was on 18.”

Elvira finished the final round on a par 71 for a four-day total of 16-under 268.

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Finland’s Mikko Korhonen (66) and South Africa’s Harding (65) had both played their first 15 holes of the final round in 6-under par to share the lead on 16 under, with Elvira falling a shot behind after covering his first 14 holes in 1 over.

PGA TOUR: Cameron Champ fended off dehydration and crisply putted his way to a 5-under 66, winning the 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota, by two strokes for his third career victory.

The 26-year-old Champ had five birdies in a bogey-free round to finish at 15-under 269 at TPC Twin Cities. Louis Oosthuizen, Jhonattan Vegas and Charl Schwartzel tied for second.

Oosthuizen shot 66, too, in a much stronger finish than the previous weekend at the British Open, where his 54-hole lead turned into a tie for third after a fourth-round 71.

Playing six pairs ahead of Champ, Oosthuizen birdied three of the last four holes to give himself an outside chance. His approach to the 18th green almost yielded an eagle on the PGA Tour’s hardest par-5 hole, but the ball lipped out. He made a 2 1/2 foot putt for birdie instead. Schwartzel, his fellow South African, posted a 68 to match Vegas in the final round.


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