Sydney’s Grace Kim has suffered a heartbreaking playoff defeat to be denied a second LPGA Tour win at the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan.

Kim began the final round at Blythefield Country Club with a five-stroke lead, an advantage that had been erased completely by the time she stepped onto the fifth tee.

As American Ally Ewing strung four straight birdies together from the third hole, Kim stumbled out of the blocks with back-to-back bogeys.

She matched Ewing’s birdie on six to retain a share of the lead yet her greatest challengers would emerge from back-nine charges by Lilia Vu and Lexi Thompson.

Vu’s bogey-free 7-under 65 would be the best of the day and allowed her to set the clubhouse mark at 16-under par.

Thompson (68) played the back nine in 4-under to also reach 16-under par as 23-year-old Kim showed impressive composure to stay in contention.

She dropped to 15-under with a bogey on nine but made birdie at the par-5 14th amid numerous par saves to arrive at the 72nd hole tied for the lead.

A tee shot into the fairway bunker at the par-5 closer forced Kim to lay up which left her a lengthy putt from the back fringe for birdie to win in regulation.

That attempt just missed on the low side to close out a round of 1-over 73, Thompson’s closing birdie sending all three players back to the 18th tee.

Again, Kim had a putt to win at the first playoff hole with an eagle try from just off the front edge of the green but had to hole a three-footer for birdie to match by both Thompson and Vu.

At the second playoff hole, Kim needed to hole a six-footer to stay in the playoff but an awkward lie right of the fairway and subsequent lay-up at the third playoff hole – the par-5 fourth – opened the door for Vu to clinch victory by getting up-and-down for birdie from the greenside bunker.

Despite the disappointment of falling just short, Kim acknowledged that it is another step forward in her young career.

“Going the three playoff holes with the Player of the Year last year, two major champions and obviously Lexi just being an icon for women’s golf says a lot about my game I guess,” said Kim, who now moves on to the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club.

“Obviously didn’t get it done. Yeah, it sucks, but I think I can see myself I guess in the future as well. Just how much I’ve grown.

“It’s only my second year out, and to be in this position it’s, as you can tell, overwhelming.

“All the credit goes to my team to push me this far.

“To get to these opportunities is, you know, unbelievable. To be able to play against these players in certain conditions and playoff for three holes, I think we all know we played some good damn golf.”

Kim wasn’t the only WPGA Tour of Australasia member with a top-10 finish this past week.

West Australian Kirsten Rudgeley continues to build towards a breakthrough win on the Ladies European Tour, finishing tied for sixth at the Ladies Italian Open as Whitney Hillier made an impressive return in her first LET start since last July.

New Zealand's Hanee Song was top 10 as Steph Bunque finished tied for 13th on the LET Access Series and Cassie Porter followed up her maiden win a week ago with a tie for 47th on the Epson Tour.

Photo: Raj Mehta/Getty Images

Results

LPGA Tour
Meijer LPGA Classic
Blythefield Country Club, Belmont, Michigan
1          Lilia Vu                         69-70-68-65—272       $US450,000
Won on third hole of sudden-death playoff
T2        Grace Kim                    68-65-66-73—272       $234,649
T17      Hira Naveed                 69-70-71-68—278       $33,803
T17      Gabriela Ruffels           68-73-68-69—278       $33,803
MC       Robyn Choi                  73-70—143
MC       Minjee Lee                   72-78—150

Ladies European Tour
Ladies Italian Open
Golf Nazionale, Italy
1          Amy Taylor                   70-67-69—206 €45,000
T6        Kirsten Rudgeley          66-74-70—210 €8,640
T32      Whitney Hillier             70-71-76—217 €2,499
T45      Amy Walsh                   74-69-76—219 €1,504.29
T45      Kelsey Bennett             73-74-72—219 €1,504.29
T62      Momoka Kobori (NZ)   74-72-78—224 €855

Epson Tour
Otter Creek Championship
Otter Creek Golf Course, Columbus, Indiana
1          Savannah Vilaubi          67-68-71—206
Won on the second hole of sudden-death playoff
T47      Cassie Porter                73-71-72—216
MC       Amelia Garvey (NZ)      73-75—148
MC       Fiona Xu (NZ)               75-75—150
MC       Amy Chu                      73-77—150
MC       Maddison Hinson-Tolchard      71-79—150
WD      Su Oh              78

LET Access Series
Amundi Czech Ladies Challenge
Panorama Golf Resort, Czech Republic
1          Helen Briem (a)            72-68-73—213 ------
T9        Hanee Song (NZ)          69-76-74—219 €1,317.50
T13      Stephanie Bunque        72-72-77—221 €1,147.50        
T18      Munchin Keh (NZ)        76-74-72—222 €850
T25      Wenyung Keh (NZ)       78-73-73—224 €684.25
MC       Belinda Ji (a)                 77-80—157