England's Charley Hull, right, is sprayed with champagne on the 18th green after winning the LPGA Queen City Championship

England's Charley Hull, right, is sprayed with champagne on the 18th green after winning the LPGA Queen City Championship

England's Charley Hull won her third LPGA title on Sunday at the Queen City Championship with a last-hole birdie after Jeeno Thitikul squandered the lead with a closing four-putt bogey.

Hull, a four-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, also won the LPGA 2016 Tour Championship and 2022 Volunteers of America Classic and was a 2023 Queen City runner-up.

Hull fired a four-under par 68 in the final round to finish 72 holes on 20-under 268 and beat top-ranked Jeeno by one stroke at TPC River's Bend in Cincinnati, Ohio.

At the par-five 18th, Jeeno led by one but the world number one and top LPGA putter missed a five-foot birdie putt then lipped out for par from four feet, setting up Hull's two-footer for birdie and the win.

"I thought I had to make eagle to be fair," Hull said. "I wasn't really watching her putt for birdie because I thought she was going to hole it.

"I guess it's not over until the fat lady sings but I was shaking over that last putt because I just didn't expect it. But yeah, it feels great."

Hull sank a long birdie putt at par-three 16th to seize a share of the lead but found a bunker off the tee at the 17th and made bogey, falling a stroke behind Jeeno.

"At 17, I hit a decent tee shot," Hull said. "The bunker was fine but I was in the lip of the bunker. If it was three feet back I would've had a shot at the green. To get that one and birdie the last, it's pretty cool."

Hull, who led by one when the round began, reeled off three birdies in a row starting at the par-five sixth hole then birdied the par-five 11th before making a bogey at the 13th.

Jeeno made a birdie-bogey start then charged with birdies at the fourth and par-three seventh before starting the back nine with back-to-back birdies and grabbing the solo lead with a birdie at the 14th.

She kept the lead with an up-and-down for par from a bunker at 15, setting up the last-hole drama.

England's Lottie Woad was third on 270 with Japan's Miyu Yamashita fourth on 271.

A fifth-place pack on 273 included Japan's Nasa Hataoka and Chisato Iwai, world number two Nelly Korda and fellow American Jennifer Kupcho, Sweden's Maja Stark, South Korea's Kim Sei-young and China's Mary Liu.

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Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

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