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Australian golf star Hannah Green has fallen agonisingly short in a compelling final-round duel with world number one Nelly Korda at the Americas Open in New Jersey.
Green bogeyed the 72nd hole as Korda recorded an incredible sixth LPGA Tour victory from eight starts in 2024.
With a Sunday 71, Korda ended at 15 under, one stroke ahead of Green, who closed with a 70 and twice held the outright lead on the front nine but was unable to add a third LPGA Tour title to her own stellar season.
Fellow Australian Gabriela Ruffels also continued her hot run with a final-round 72 to share third place at 10 under.
It was rookie Ruffels's third top-three finish of the season, and second in as many weeks, as the 24-year-old solidified her lead in the LPGA rookie-of-the-year race.
But the spoils — and the $US450,000 ($672,000) winner's cheque — again belonged to Korda, even if Green pushed the American all the way.
Ranked one and two in the season-long LPGA player-of-the-year battle, Korda and Green went blow for blow down the stretch at Liberty National.
The two combatants made the same scores on every hole from the ninth through to 17, including matching birdies on 10, 13 and the treacherous par-4 15th.
But in a shootout between the only two multiple winners on the LPGA Tour in 2024, Green pulled her tee shot on the last, then couldn't find the green or get up-and-down to save par.
Still, the world number nine will head to next week's US Open brimming with belief despite narrowly failing to claim a third victory of the year, having won last month's LA Championship and the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore in March.
AAP
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