Ye pips Saso conqueror for crown

Lei Ye watched Jillian Bourdage flub a five-foot birdie putt on the 36th hole to escape with a 1-up victory and become the new US Girls’ Junior champion at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

Ye went 3-up after the first half of their marathon 36-hole duel but needed to produce a pair of birdies on their second trip to the 15th and 17th holes to hang on to a 1-up lead as Bourdage kept fighting back with her clutch shots and putts. But the Florida ace missed the putt that mattered most, enabling the seventh-ranked Ye to clinch the victory.