The 25-year-old from Perth, who will join another Western Australian, Hannah Green, in next week’s women’s Olympic golf competition at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Tokyo, won a sudden-death playoff against South Korea’s Jeongeun Lee in the Evian Championship at Evian Resort in France. 

It was her 36th attempt at winning a major and she came from seven shots back on the final day, shooting 64 and then making birdie at the first playoff hole to win. 

Australia will now have two major winners competing in Tokyo, Green having won the Women’s PGA Championship in Minnesota in 2019. 

Lee is just the fourth Australian to win one of the five women’s golf majors, after Green, Jan Stephenson and Karrie Webb. She has been a fixture in the world’s top 10 for the past four years and has ranked as high as world number two. 

The Royal Fremantle Golf Club member and former Karrie Webb Scholarship recipient paid tribute to her family after the win, her mother Clara having introduced her to the game as a young girl in Perth. 

“I'm sure they're watching," she said. "I think it's really early in the morning, so I just want to say thank you for everything. They sacrificed so much for me. I know they're really, really happy and I am, too."