It took two spectacular finishes to deny Australians Stephanie Kyriacou and Adam Scott victories in two of golf’s most coveted championships.

A one-stroke leader entering the final round of The Amundi Evian Championship in France, Kyriacou hung tough in a see-sawing tussle with American Lauren Coughlin.

A birdie at the par-5 15th followed by a brilliant tee shot at the par-3 16th saw the 23-year-old regain the outright lead, but only briefly.

After missing the fairway left at the par-4 17th, Kyriacou came up short of the green with her shot out of the rough and subsequently chunked her chip shot on the way to her only bogey of the day.

As Coughlin dropped away, Kyriacou was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Japan’s Ayaka Furue, the pair locked together at 17-under with Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit (63) as they played the final hole.

Another missed fairway forced Kyriacou to lay up at the par-5 finisher.

Despite getting up-and-down from 125 yards for birdie and round of 4-under 67, Kyriacou could only watch on as Furue hit a brilliant second and holed the putt for eagle to play her final five holes in 5-under and claim a maiden major victory by one shot.

“It’s mixed emotions,” said Kyriacou after her round.

“Obviously I wanted to win but I played how I wanted to and I did my best and Ayaka just came in clutch at the end.

“It was a good week. Sucks not to hold the trophy but if you told me I would come second at the start of the week I would’ve been happy.”

It took an equally extraordinary conclusion to deny Scott at the Genesis Scottish Open.

Home country favourite Robert MacIntyre also finished in a flurry to go one better than his second-place finish to Rory McIlroy 12 months earlier at The Renaissance Club.

A birdie on 14 elevated the hopes of the enormous galleries but it was his second shot out of the rough to six feet at the par-5 16th that turned the tournament on its head.

He converted that opportunity for eagle and then holed a birdie putt from 22 feet at the 72nd hole to deny Scott what would have been his first win in more than four years.

A double-bogey at eight stunted Scott’s Sunday charge, but only momentarily.

He responded with consecutive birdies at nine and 10 and then took the outright lead when he hit his tee shot to just two feet at the par-3 14th.

A dropped shot at the next – a hole he had birdied each of the first three days – would prove costly.

The 43-year-old got that shot back with birdie on 16 but couldn’t find the extra shot he needed over the closing two holes to match MacIntyre’s 18-under total.

“I knew I had to at least birdie 16, and then I was trying to find one there at the last,” said Scott, who qualified for this week’s Open Championship by virtue of his finish at the 2023 ISPS HANDA Australian Open.

“I had quite a tricky putt to read. It was kind of down the spine, and I read it to go straight. I was like straight down the spine but it went right a little bit.

“It was fun to have one that mattered, actually. I’m excited to take some comfort inside of this and heading into a major next week on form.

“It’s been a while since I can say I’ve done that.”

The Open champion at St Andrews two years ago, Cameron Smith (68) earned a confidence-boosting tie for sixth at LIV Golf Andalucia while Michael Wright was the leading Australian at the Kaulig Companies Championship, banking $US106,750 for his tie for seventh.

Photos: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images (Kyriacou); Malcolm Mackenzie/PA Images via Getty Images (Scott)

Results

LPGA Tour
The Amundi Evian Championship
Evian Resort Golf Club, Evian-les-Bains, France
1          Ayaka Furue                 65-65-70-65—265       $US1.2m
2          Stephanie Kyriacou      66-66-67-67—266       $731,723
T39      Lydia Ko (NZ)                65-73-72-71—281       $40,061
T44      Hannah Green              73-69-70-70—282       $32,849
T49      Minjee Lee                   70-69-68-76—283       $28,642
T51      Grace Kim                    70-70-74-70—284       $26,440
T55      Gabriela Ruffels           69-72-76-70—287       $23,234
MC       Sarah Kemp                 75-71—146
MC       Hira Naveed                 75-73—148

Epson Tour
Hartford HealthCare Women’s Championship
Great River Golf Club, Milford, Connecticut
1 Daniela Iacobelli 66-67-67—200
T19      Cassie Porter                71-69-72—212
T43      Maddison Hinson-Tolchard      76-69-70—215
T69      Fiona Xu (NZ)               74-70-75—219
MC       Amelia Garvey (NZ)      75-74—149
MC       Su Oh                          78-74—152