Marina Alex gave it everything she had over 24 holes on Sunday in the finale of the rain-shortened TOTO Japan Classic.

In the end, she fell just short of her first LPGA Tour victory in two years. But she can leave Japan with her head held high after another tremendous outing.

“Very tired. Ready for a beer,” Alex said with a big laugh.

The American lost on the sixth playoff hole to Japan’s Rio Takeda, who won for the first time on the LPGA Tour and incredibly the eighth time on the JLPGA this season alone.

Alex had a chance to win outright, but her birdie attempt on the final hole of regulation slid to the left. She and Takeda birdied the first playoff hole, and both tied with pars over the next four holes before Takeda finally rolled in a short birdie on playoff hole No. 6, the par-5 18th.

Alex fired a 6-under 66 on Sunday, tying the lowest round of the day. With 36-hole leader Hana Wakimoto shooting a 1-over 73 in the final round, it opened the door for the chasing pack, including Alex, who birdied two of her first five holes and then added four more circles to her scorecard on the back nine.

It was Alex’s second straight top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour after she tied for sixth at the Maybank Championship a week ago.

Although she has five top 10s in 2024, her result in Malaysia was her first top 10 since she finished in a tie for sixth at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer in June.

It’s been a nice bounce-back campaign for Alex, who didn’t notch a single top 10 in 2023 after making just 12 cuts.

“It's been amazing. Last week was great, too,” said Alex. “I'm just playing some really nice golf, which is awesome to see. I worked hard to get to this point. I love Japan so much, so it's great to play well here in front of the amazing crowds. They're so lovely and respectful of the game. It's been a wonderful week.”

Although Alex, whose last win came in 2022 at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship, is a veteran on the LPGA Tour, this was her first-ever playoff. She said she tried to lean on her Solheim Cup experience during the extra holes. Alex represented the U.S. Team at the 2019 Solheim Cup, compiling a 1-1-2 record.

The key, Alex said, was steady breathing. Funny enough, she said she felt a “little fatigue” at the mid-point of the day so she was trying to pump herself up. But then, at the end of regulation, she found that she needed to try to calm down.

“There are always those levels, peaks, valleys of trying to get into the right headspace. I'm really proud of how I played,” Alex said. “I wish any of those putts would have dropped. It was tricky there at the end. It's getting dark, and the greens have a lot going on, and it was just hard to get the ball to go in the hole.”

Although she didn’t get the victory, Alex made a hearty jump in the Race to the CME Globe standings – moving up 29 spots to No. 32.

She added the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei to her schedule a few weeks ago in an effort to try to secure her spot in the season finale, but with that mission accomplished, she’s excited to head to Hawaii to try to take a victory across the finish line.

“It's nice to have these next couple of weeks not worried about that as trying to get in and actually just keep building on my game and get geared up for CME,” Alex said. “It's been a little bit of an up and down year, but it's wonderful to see the hard work paying off.”

Marina Alex Moves Up in Race to CME Globe After Falling in Six-Hole Playoff in Japan

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