Xu fires 22-under over 3 days to capture Copper Rock Championship in Hurricane

HURRICANE — After shooting a course-tying 9-under par 63 on Friday, Fiona Xu never looked back.

2024 Copper Rock Championship golf tournament winner Fiona Xu lines up a putt en route to a record-setting round of 9-under par 63, Hurricane, Utah, May 17, 2024 | Photo by Fred Watson, Epson LPGA Tour, St. George New

The Epson Tour rookie from New Zealand distanced herself from the field Saturday en route to a Copper Rock Championship title, shooting a record-setting 22-under par across the three-day event.

Friday began with Xu trailing the leaders by three shots. Eighteen holes later, the 19-year-old had seized the lead by two shots over first-round leaders Kaleigh Telfer, who wound up second overall at 15-under, and Alena Sharp, who shot 14-under.

When Xu’s final putt found the bottom of the cup on Saturday, she had won by seven shots, having carded an 8-under 64 to dominate the final day of play at Copper Rock Golf Course in Hurricane.

Xu’s 63 in the second round placed her alongside 2023 champion Savannah Vilaubi and Su Oh, who set the mark for the 18-hole course during the 2023 Copper Rock Championship. Xu’s 194 total also bested Vilaubi’s previous 54-hole record total of 201.

“It feels pretty great. I didn’t really expect to, you know, break the record, but I just played how I wanted to play and just took every opportunity the course gave me,” said Xu in a news release. “Everything was going great. I was hitting fairways, and my approach shots were really good this week. A lot of birdies from 10 feet or within 10 feet So, my putting and my approach were the biggest things this week.”

After Friday’s round, Xu had a similar reaction, saying all aspects of her game were working.

“I started off pretty stable with three pars today,” she said in a news release from the Epson Tour. “My driver was really consistent. I was hitting fairways, and I don’t think I missed a green. My approaches were pretty good today as well. And then on the back nine, my approach shots were really good. I’ve been hitting it within five feet. So that really helped me make birdies.”

Jessica Porvasnik and Cynthia Lu tied for fourth (-11), followed by Dana Hall (-10) and Becca Huffer, Dewi Weber and Lauren Stephenson (-9).

Telfer’s 15-under par performance would have been good enough to at least tie the 54-hole 2023 leaders. And this year’s runnerup finish came with an increase in valuable golf experience.

“My game feels great and everything just fell into place,” said Telfer. “Fiona played great golf today and it was just nice to watch her and see how you win a golf tournament. I’ll take a lot from that.”

Click here to view the leaderboard and more on the final results.

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