Celine Boutier, golf's woman of the moment, has earned impressive back-to-back triumphs while an Australian trio all made the top-15 in the Scottish Open at Dundonald Links.
Frenchwoman Boutier followed up her maiden major triumph in her home Evian Championship by taking another prestigious LPGA crown at the Ayrshire links on Sunday, holding off her pursuers by two strokes.
The 29-year-old carded a two-under-par 70 in her final round to finish at 15-under for the tournament, as she scooped a $US300,000 ($A455,000) first prize to go with the $US1 million ($A1.5 million) she had earned the previous week at Evian-les-Bains.
She curled in a long putt for a birdie on the penultimate hole to effectively seal her fifth LPGA Tour victory and admitted afterwards: "It's completely crazy, I would have never imagined I would be able to win not one, but two tournaments in a row, and I'm just incredibly in shock.
Boutier is the first LPGA player since Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016 to follow a major championship victory with a win in the following tournament, and is the first to win back-to-back tour events since Jin Young Ko two years ago.
South Korea's Hyo Joo Kim made seven birdies in a bogey-free round, finishing with a 65 to take second place at 13 under, one shot clear of China's Ruoning Yin, who recorded seven birdies and one bogey in her final 66.
Sarah Kemp's hopes of winning her first LPGA trophy never looked likely to materialise but after a fine week, the 13-time Australasian Tour winner still performed creditably to earn a top-10 position, finishing joint-ninth after a final-round 70 which featured four birdies over her last 13 holes.
The 37-year-old stalwart's two Australian compatriots, Minjee Lee and Steph Kyriacou, also showed some burgeoning form as they prepared to head south to England for this week's Women's British Open at Walton Heath in Surrey.
Double major winner Lee, who was basically out of contention after her shocking first round of 80, bounced back impressively with rounds of 66, 68 and a final six-under 66 to finish joint-13th at eight under.
Lee recorded an eagle, seven birdies and three bogeys in her last 18 holes, while Sydney's Kyriacou also finished on eight under with a near-flawless 66, spoiled only by a lone bogey on the penultimate hole.
With AP
