Lydia Ko defends her Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic title

Lydia Ko, in a thrilling overtime battle between current and former teen phenoms, bested Morgan Pressel on the second playoff hole to go back-to-back at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic title. She also celebrated her 18th birthday with her seventh tour win.

On her third trip of the day to the 18th hole at Lake Merced, Ko sank her 5-foot birdie putt after Pressel’s effort from 8 feet slid by the hole. It was a heartbreaking loss for the 26-year-old Pressel, whose last of two tour wins came at the Kapalua LPGA Classic in 2008. Pressel had the backing of tour veterans Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr, who gathered on the 18th green to cheer her on.

Reigning ANA Inspiration champ Brittany Lincicome, who finished T33, was on her way to the airport but sent her support via Twitter.

Alas, it was not to be for Pressel, who simply ran into a buzz saw in her Team Callaway stablemate.

“She’s very, very impressive and always there. At her age, she plays with so much poise and calmness I don’t think you see from other kids her age,” Pressel said of Ko, who turned 18 on Friday and whose presence on the first page of the leaderboard is pretty much a given these days. “I guess she’s not a kid anymore.”

Last year, on her way to her first victory as a professional, Ko drained a 6-footer for birdie on No. 18, so facing a similar situation was old news for the youngster.

“Last year here was the first time where I experienced every little shot counts. That last putt, if it drops you’re winning; if not, you just never know,” said Ko, who started her final round with two uncharacteristic bogeys but tallied a 2-under 70 to Pressel’s 72 in the finale. Each finished 8-under for the week. “If I want to put some pressure, I need to make a birdie or better on 18.”

Neither player could reach the par-5 18th in two, so the second extra frame was all about the short game and nerves. Ko stuck a wedge shot in close and wrapped things up with her flat stick.

“I hit a couple good wedges but just couldn’t convert the putt,” Pressel said. “It really comes down to putting … If you look back at the way we played the 18th hole, she birdied it twice and I didn’t.”

Indeed, the youngest winner of a major championship when she won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco at 18 missed some critical putts down the stretch. But she is clearly back in contention after a few off years spent overcoming injuries, making a swing change and weathering a lengthy slump.

“My last four tournaments, I definitely feel like there are so many positives,” said Pressel, who has a third-place, T18, and second-place finish in her last three events in 2015 and held a four-stroke edge with four holes to play on Sunday.

Then, two straight bogeys and a par on 18 sealed her fate, after Ko birdied her 72nd hole to force extra innings and the rest was sort of foreordained, given the remarkable play of the nerveless whiz kid.

Last week also marked the emergence of 17-year-old Brooke Henderson, a Canadian who made things interesting with a hole-out for eagle from a bunker on the par-5 14th.

The next step for Henderson, after missing a 25-footer for birdie on 18 that would have made it a three-way playoff, is a Monday qualifier for this week’s North Texas Shootout.

If last week in Daly City were an indication of a budding rivalry among Ko, Pressel and Henderson, LPGA fans are in for a treat this summer.