Jodi Ewart Shadoff Player Profile - First LPGA Tour Title

IT TOOK her 246 attempts but Jodi Ewart Shadoff is finally a LPGA Tour winner, going wire to wire to claim the Mediheal Championship by a shot.

The 34-year-old English golfer started with a four-shot lead, and that was gone by the time she made the turn as she struggled to a 71. 

Paula Reto of South Africa had four birdies and took the lead when Ewart Shadoff took bogey on the par-3 ninth hole.

Ewart Shadoff regained a share of the lead with a birdie on No. 12, matched birdies with Reto on the par-5 14th and then held steady as the South African fell back.

Reto dropped shots on the next two holes, and Ewart Shadoff held it together on the closing holes. She wound up one shot ahead of former U.S. Women's Open champion Yuka Saso, who closed with a 66.

Reto had to settle for a 69 to tie for third with Georgia Hall (65) and Danielle Kang (67).

When she tapped in for par, the celebration was a mixture of tears and champagne that friends and players sprayed on Ewart Shadoff.

"That last putt felt like 20 feet to me," she said.

She becomes the 10th player this year to win for the first time on the LPGA Tour, one short of the record set in 1995. None of the others had to wait this long.

"It's a little bit surreal," said Ewart Shadoff, holding back tears. "I didn't know if this moment would ever come. I'm just really grateful for everybody who's on my team. Last year was really hard. I'm standing here because of them. I'm just really grateful."

Ewart Shadoff only knew that Sunday would be a new experience, and the test came quickly when Reto caught her in six holes - three birdies to Ewart Shadoff's bogey on the third hole. But she never fell too far behind and relied on her putter, not typically the strongest part of Ewart Shadoff's game.

"I learned that I could fight through adversity. I can play under the nerves, which it's been kind of a problem for me in the past, is just trying to settle the nerves down and play through it," she said. "I think I proved to myself that I can do it. I proved I can win. It's been a long time, and like I could, I didn't think I would ever be sat here honestly. Just really grateful."

Atthaya Thitikul, the 19-year-old from Thailand, closed with a 68 and tied for eighth. It was her fourth consecutive top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour as she gets closer to reaching No. 1 in the women's world ranking.

Who Is Jodi Ewart Shadoff?

Ewart Shadoff was born in Northallerton on January 7, 1988. She was a member of the GB&I team that beat the USA to win the Curtis Cup in 2008. Ewart turned professional in 2010 and played on the Futures Tour. She qualified for the LPGA Tour in 2011. Her most successful season was 2013 when she finished tied for 7th in the Kraft Nabisco Championship and tied for fourth at the US Women’s Open. Her best finish in a major came in 2017 when she was runner-up in the Women’s British Open.

She was chosen by Lotte Neumann as one of her four captain's selections to the 2013 European Solheim Cup team. She also qualified for the team in 2017 and 2019.