Grace Kim with a stunning finish wins Evian Championship for her first major

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — Grace Kim always dreamed of winning a major on the LPGA Tour. What happened Sunday in a wild final hour at the Evian Championship was beyond her imagination.

“I don't know how it happened, really,” Kim said after an eagle-birdie-eagle finish to win on the second playoff hole against Jeeno Thitikul.

A final round at Evian Resort that nearly saw Lottie Woad become the first amateur to win a major in 58 years ended with Kim standing upright after her 12-foot eagle putt dropped, with her hand over her mouth, motionless as she tried to digest what had transpired.

Two shots behind on the final hole, Kim hit a 4-hybrid so perfectly that it slowed at the top of a slope behind the flag and rolled back to 2 feet for an eagle and a 4-under 67 to force a playoff with Thitikul.

Her approach to the par-5 18th in a playoff bounced off a cart path, over rocks and into the water, while Thitikul was in good position to make birdie. Tournament over? Not quite. Kim pitched over the pond and across the green and into the cup for birdie to stay alive.

“I was pretty bummed to find out that my ball was in the middle of the water. But, again, it’s not quite finished until the very end,” Kim said. “Just wanted to make sure I got it there. Yeah, just happened to have chipped it in. I don't know if I can do it again.”

Back to the 18th for a third time — twice in the playoff — the Australian again hit 4-hybrid to 12 feet. Thitikul, who missed an 8-foot birdie putt in regulation for the win, missed the green to the left and chipped to 5 feet. She never had to putt.

Kim holed the eagle putt to capture her first major, and second LPGA title.

She is a four-time winner of Karrie Webb's scholarship, which entails spending time with Australia's greatest golf champion. She was at Hazeltine in 2021 when Hannah Green won the Women's PGA. She is the second straight Aussie to win a major, following Minjee Lee.

“It's a huge achievement for me,” Kim said. “I’ve had a lot of doubts early this year. I was kind of losing motivation. I kind of had to get some hard conversations done with the team. Yeah, kind of had to wake up a little bit. So to be sitting here next to this trophy is definitely surreal.”

It was a big setback for Thitikul, who along with Ai Miyazato is the only woman to have reached No. 1 in the world ranking without winning a major.

Thitikul's biggest challenge had been Woad, the No. 1 amateur who was coming off a win in the Irish Women's Open and at one point had the lead on the back nine of Evian Resort. She closed with 64 and then waited to see if that would be enough.

Woad was bidding to become the first amateur to win a major since Catherine Lacoste at the 1967 U.S. Women's Open.

Thitikul birdied the 17th to take the lead, and the Thai player was on the verge of her first major when she laid up short of the pond and hit wedge into 8 feet on the final hole.

But then Kim appeared with the sublime 4-hybrid to 2 feet for eagle. Thitikul's birdie putt for the win just missed to the right and she shot 67 to join Kim at 14-under 270.

“I think I’m so proud of myself on battling out there today,” Thitikul said.

Woad tied for third with Lee (68) and now has secured an LPGA card for the rest of this year and all of next year if the senior-to-be at Florida State chooses to turn pro. Woad already is in the Ladies Scottish Open and Women's British Open.

She had mixed emotions at the end, happy about her opportunity to play the LPGA, bummed about not getting birdie on the 455-yard closing hole.

“I’m going to be thinking about one shot probably for a while, but I’m very happy how I played today,” said Woad, who won the Augusta National Women's Amateur in 2024. “Great week.”

Kim's victory extended what already is a record streak in the LPGA Tour's 75-year history, the 18th consecutive tournament to start a season with a different winner. It also makes 13 different winners in the last 13 majors.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Grace Kim, of Australia, kisses her trophy after winning the Evian Championship women's golf tournament, in Evian, eastern France, Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Grace Kim, of Australia, plays on the 18th hole on her way to win the Evian Championship women's golf tournament, in Evian, eastern France, Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Grace Kim, of Australia, celebrates after winning the Evian Championship women's golf tournament, in Evian, eastern France, Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Grace Kim, of Australia, celebrates with her trophy after winning the Evian Championship women's golf tournament, in Evian, eastern France, Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Jeeno Thitikul, of Thailand, plays on the 4th hole during the last round of the Evian Championship women's golf tournament, in Evian, eastern France, Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Grace Kim, of Australia, plays on the 4th hole during the last round of the Evian Championship women's golf tournament, in Evian, eastern France, Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)