Green reels in Noh to win 2019 Cambia Portland Classic

Korean-American golfer Noh Yealimi, 18, missed becoming the third Monday qualifier to win on the LPGA Tour. The fourth round of the LPGA Cambia Portland Classic was held at Columbia Edgewater Country Club on Monday.

Noh, who started the day with a three-stroke lead, settled for a one-under 71 at the final round. By beating the Monday qualifier by one shot, Hannah Green of Australia won her second LPGA Tour event of the summer with a 21-under-par total.

Noh dropped out of a tie for the lead with a bogey on the 18th hole. Noh’s tee shot went into a fairway bunker and her second shot fell in front of the grandstand behind the green. She eventually bogeyed the last by missing a 5-meter-shot while Green made par on the final hole.

As a result, Noh failed to become the third Monday qualifier in LPGA Tour history to capture that week’s title, following Laurel Kean of the 2000 State Farm LPGA Classic and Brooke Henderson of the 2015 Cambia Portland LPGA Classic. Noh, who tied for sixth at July’s Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic, went pro this year but earned a spot in the tournament via the Monday Qualifier since she is yet to have the LPGA Tour status.

Noh, a power hitter, is a rising star as she won last year’s Girls Junior PGA Championship, U.S. Girls Junior Championship, and Canadian Junior Girls Championship. The teenager adapted herself to the LPGA Tour through several tournaments this year and will come back next year after Q-School.

Now that the tournament was Noh’s final LPGA Tour appearance this season, she will participate in the KLPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship, which opens on October 3.


ysahn@donga.com