Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn won the US Open in dramatic circumstances after recovering from a back-nine collapse to overcome the South Korean Kim Hyo-joo in a play-off at Shoal Creek in Alabama.

Victory means Jutanugarn has become the first player from Thailand to win the championship. The 22-year-old made a clutch bunker shot to within a foot of the hole to save par, beating Kim, who shot a five-under 67 in the final round to force the play-off.

Jutanugarn started the day with a four-shot lead over Australia’s Sarah Jane Smith and looked as if she might win easily after opening with four under par on the front nine to stretch her lead to seven shots.

But a triple bogey at the 10th cut the lead to four and seemed to shake her confidence. Jutanugarn still had a two-shot lead with two holes remaining but closed with back-to-back bogeys to fall into a play-off after shooting 73.

Earlier Italy’s Francesco Molinari came up agonisingly short in his bid for back-to-back wins and a third Italian Open title as Thorbjorn Olesen held his nerve to claim the fifth European Tour title of his career.

The Dane shot a flawless closing 64 at Gardagolf to finish 22 under par, a shot ahead of the home favourite Molinari, who had won the PGA Championship at Wentworth the previous week.

The two players had been tied for the lead with two holes remaining, but at the 17th Molinari followed four straight birdies by dropping only his second shot of the week while Olesen birdied the same hole in the group behind to take a two-shot lead. The Italian refused to give in throw in the towel and holed a curling birdie putt on the last from 40 feet to complete a 65 and pile on the pressure but Olesen got up and down from a greenside bunker for par to secure the first prize of £874,000 in the second Rolex Series event of 2018.

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“This is my first time coming from behind to win so that’s very special to me,” Olesen said after a victory which takes him just outside the automatic European qualifying places for September’s Ryder Cup, when his compatriot Thomas Bjorn captains the European side.