She didn’t leave Ohio with the trophy but Stephanie Kyriacou may have taken something even more valuable from her tie for fourth at the Dana Open.

Paired in the final group with eventual champion Linn Grant, the 22-year-old from Sydney did little wrong in a closing round of 2-under 69, her only bogey coming at the par-5 17th.

She got up-and-down from around 50 yards at the 72nd hole to put a punctuation mark on her career-best finish on the LPGA Tour.

A two-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, Kyriacou’s previous best finish in America was a tie for 10th but has now developed a taste for being in tournament contention.

“I said to my caddie coming up the last that being in the final group is kind of fun. I’ll try and do that more often,” said Kyriacou, who banked $118,846 for her top-five finish.

“I learned a whole lot about the mental side of golf. How to deal with nerves and all that stuff.

“I was trying to figure out how to deal with all the nerves and everything that came with being in the final group. I found out that adrenaline plays a big part. I was missing the flags a bit long today but next time I’m in this position I have that in the toolbox.

“A lot of things to take away from this week, even though one wasn’t a trophy.”

Kyriacou led a strong Aussie performance at Highland Meadows Golf Club as Minjee Lee (70) snared a share of seventh and Grace Kim birdied her final two holes to finish outright 11th.

Elsewhere this week,  West Australian Kirsten Rudgeley and Kiwi Momoka Kobori were both tied for 28th at the Aramco Team Series – London. The Epson Tour’s Hartford Healthcare Women’s Championship has been forced into a Monday finish due to heavy rain, Robyn Choi tied for 20th and Hira Naveed tied for 27th when play was suspended.

Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Results

LPGA Tour
Dana Open
Highland Meadows Golf Club, Sylvania, Ohio
1             Linn Grant           64-69-62-68—263            $US262,500
T4           Stephanie Kyriacou          70-66-65-69—270            $81,261
T7           Minjee Lee          67-68-67-70—272            $41,949
11           Grace Kim            71-65-68-69—273            $32,943
T23        Gabriela Ruffels 70-69-68-70—277            $17,424
T41        Su Oh    71-70-71-69—281            $7,416
T53        Sarah Kemp        70-71-71-70—282            $5,534
T65        Lydia Ko (NZ)      67-68-72-78—285            $3,909
MC         Karis Davidson    70-72—142
MC         Sarah Jane Smith              74-68—142

Ladies European Tour
Aramco Team Series – London
Centurion Club, England
1             Nelly Korda         68-69-71—208   $US67,050
T28        Kirsten Rudgeley               73-76-74—223   $4,711.38
T28        Momoka Kobori (NZ)       73-74-76—223   $4,711.38
MC         Whitney Hillier   79-77—156