This playoff result was going to be a feel-good story, however it played out.

When Grace Kim, Yu Liu and Yu Jin Sung went back for another go at the 18th hole at Hoakalei Country Club on Saturday afternoon, the end result was going to be a first-time LPGA Tour winner, regardless of who prevailed.

And that’s always a wonderful thing to witness.

Winning a professional golf tournament is never easy. For some players it never happens over the course of long careers.

Saturday at Hoakalei turned out to be Kim’s time — and considering her youth and talent, perhaps the first of many times.

The rookie from Australia grinded it out like a veteran, making just enough clutch shots to recover from a late bogey and force a playoff — and then a great one that she admitted was somewhat accidental to set up her winning birdie on the par-5 playoff hole.

Kim said that taking her second shot after Liu’s and Sung’s approaches stopped far to the left of the green was an advantage, but it was also good fortune that she was in a much better position than her competitors as they prepared for their third shots.

“I would have to admit that I wasn’t planning to go that aggressive,” said Kim, who avoided water and sand for a sweet lie, just off the right fringe of the green, less than 30 feet from the hole. “I did push it right. So just letting you guys know. Yeah, I guess, yeah, I got lucky. Yeah, definitely aimed at the pin for a little kind of play for luck in between the bunkers and hopefully does something miraculous.”

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Liu and Sung were not done yet. But those second shots made a birdie much more likely for Kim, and that’s how it played out.

“I guess you can make birdies in other ways,” she said. “So, yeah, a different way of miraculous happened.”

Kim seemed a bit stunned by it all, that she was the last golfer standing after a final round that started with her among 13 players within three shots of the lead.

Sung, another rookie who played with steadiness way beyond her years, started the round a stroke ahead of Kim and four-year LPGA veteran Linnea Strom.

Total LPGA victories among Sung, Kim, Liu (a sixth-year LPGA member) and Strom before Saturday?

Zero.

Strom held a tenuous one-shot lead early on the back nine until she lost her ball at the 14th hole, resulting in a double bogey. But she bounced back with a birdie on 17, and came just short of joining the playoff.

Georgia Hall (two LPGA wins) and Christina Kim (three) were tied for second and fifth to start the final round. But their muscle memory of coming out on top didn’t help either of them.

Meanwhile, Liu blasted her way through the leaderboard traffic with a tournament-best round of 64, making her the clubhouse leader at 12 under for the event.

Then she waited for a mob of players to finish, many one or two strokes behind her.

She waited, and she waited some more — for what seemed like an eternity, Liu had no idea if her lead would somehow hold up, someone would pass her, or there would be a playoff.

“I ate a little bit and definitely there was live coverage out there, and I … didn’t just feel comfortable watching it,” she said. “So I kind of just moved around and I went to the range for a bit, hit some chip shots and putted a little bit.”

Kim certainly earned this win. But I have to admit to hoping one of the players who has been around for a few years, struggling for that first victory, would finish on top.

But, as I heard said many times this week: When it’s your time, it’s your time.