A tournament decided on the 72nd hole is sometimes more thrilling than a playoff.
Last week, both the Korea Ladies Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour Lotte Open and the DP World Tour BMW International Open were exactly that. The outcome swung on the 71st hole, and fortunes diverged on the final 72nd hole.
On the 17th hole (par 3) on Sunday, co-leader Lee Se-hee made a bogey, allowing Ko Jin-young to move into a one-stroke solo lead. On the final 18th hole (par 4), Lee Se-hee's birdie putt of just over three meters missed. Yoo Hyun-jo in the following group failed to force a playoff, sealing Ko Jin-young's victory. Through three rounds, she had been in fifth place, three strokes behind the leader.
At the BMW International, which finished Sunday at Eichenried Golf Club in Munich, Germany, South Africa's Michael Holick staged a dramatic late comeback just like Ko Jin-young.
Holick was even three strokes behind leader Hennie du Plessis after a bogey on the 16th hole on the final day. On the 17th hole (par 3), du Plessis made a bogey. Having posted seven birdies over 16 holes that day, including three straight birdies on holes 13 through 15, du Plessis suddenly committed a bogey. On the same hole, Holick made a birdie in a "two-shot swing," cutting the gap to just one stroke.
With only one hole left, du Plessis still had some breathing room, but on the 18th hole (par 5), Holick hit a 307-yard drive and a solid second shot, leaving a six-meter eagle putt. There was a heart-stopping moment when his tee shot over water grazed a tree and lost speed, but it safely cleared the water and landed in the rough.
His two 5-iron shots down the stretch were near perfect. On the 17th hole, a 218-yard par 3, his 5-iron tee shot landed on the two-tier green as if placed by hand and led to a birdie. On the 18th hole, his second shot from 240 yards to the pin was also a work of art crafted with a 5-iron.
Because du Plessis finished with a par, Holick, facing an eagle putt that would win the tournament, recalled the vision he had before falling asleep the night before. "As I was going to bed last night, I thought it would be really special to seize a chance to win with an eagle on the last hole."
The ball left his putter and disappeared into the hole, and amid the roar of the crowd, Holick pumped his fist in the air with tears in his eyes. He earned a tour card valid through 2028, and his world ranking climbed to a career-high 148th.
Holick turned professional in 2012 but spent most of his early playing career on South Africa's domestic Sunshine Tour. Four years ago, he even put his tour clubs in storage and worked as a coach for a year.
Then, with a victory at the 2024 Zimbabwe Open, he added his first Sunshine Tour win in nearly nine years, proving to himself that he was "a player capable of winning." Almost no one expected Holick to win this BMW event either, but he pulled off "an upset by the world No. 348," grabbing his largest career prize of $510,000.
Du Plessis, who like Cheongna's Lee Se-hee recorded a painful bogey on the 17th hole, will have to wait for his first DP World Tour victory.
Holick, who reached his first win as a 39-year-old rookie on the DP World Tour, now heads to Royal Birkdale in England. It is the stage for The Open, the final major of the season, which begins on the 16th. In this event, his first major appearance, he is preparing another upset as one of the dark horses.
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