Kaleiya Romero, the 23-year-old from San José, Calif., who played her college golf at Pepperdine, won her first Epson Tour event at the Island Resort Championship presented by Delta County Chamber.
Romero came into the final round trailing Kelly Xu, playing just her second event as a professional, by one stroke. Romero started fast though, making birdies on two of the first four holes before dropping her first shot of the day on five. She made up for it immediately though with birdies on six and nine.
Romero had one more bogey on the back nine, but recovered well with two birdies on the last five holes, including the par 5 18th, to work her way into a playoff with Liqi Zeng. Zeng was seemingly coming in with much of the momentum, with four birdies in the last seven holes.
On the playoff hole, Romero slammed the door shut with a fantastic shot into the green on the par 5 18th, and nailing the putt for an eagle and her first Epson Tour victory.
It has been a good few weeks for the Romero family. Kaleiya’s sister, Kiara, recently was the U.S. Women’s Open low amateur winner, and was an essential piece of the winning United States Curtis Cup team. Kaleiya has been in strong form as of late, coming off a runner-up last week, and now has a victory that gets her to No. 2 in the Race for the Card standings.
Both Romero sisters will likely be on the LPGA Tour next season with full status, joining the Kordas, Jutanugarns and Iwais as sister duos on the Tour.
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