Casandra Alexander held on for a top-10 finish on Sunday as she made three late birdies in the final six holes to close the Amundi Evian Championship with a level-par final round at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France.

The South African and Ladies European Tour number one had made three bogeys without picking up a shot through the first 12 holes in the final round after her third-round 63, and was in danger of slipping out of the top 20. But a concerted effort over the stretch saw her fight back and finish on 11-under-par for the championship.

In the end, she was eight strokes out of the play-off between Korea’s Haeran Ryu and Canadian Brooke Henderson.

Ryu clinched back-to-back major championships after rolling in her birdie putt during the first play-off hole. The Korean star won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship just two weeks ago and hoisted another trophy after defeating Henderson.

It was a special moment for Ryu, who won the Amundi Evian Juniors Cup in 2015, at the same golf course. “This is just a dream right now because before the three weeks I don’t have a major championship, but now two in a row. I’m so happy and I can’t believe it right now,” said Ryu. “I have such good memories from when I was 14 years old, I got a win with my friends and Team Korea. I always hope to get a major win at the Evian Championship because I have a good memory and this course is so beautiful.”

Henderson had a spectacular weekend carding consecutive rounds of 64 (-7) to finish on 19-under-par and put herself in the play-off. The 2022 Amundi Evian champion had three eagles on her scorecard including an ace on the par-three eighth hole. Henderson rolled in birdies on 15 and 16 before a dropped shot on 17, but hit an excellent approach shot on 18 and sunk an eagle putt to join Ryu in the play-off.

In the LET Order of Merit, Alexander extended her advantage at the top of the rankings and now has 1,895.78 points to her name.