The 19-year-old Ko, who already has 13 LPGA Tour titles including two victories in majors in her 2 years on the top professional circuit, shot a 2-under 70 in her quest to add the U.S. Open to her list of stellar achievements.
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Even if she can’t win, Sunday’s final round will be an important one for LeBlanc.
Lydia Ko, the top-ranked player in the world, birdied the 18th hole to cap a 2-under 70 in the third round Saturday that put her in the lead of the U.S. Women’s Open, bolstering her chance for her third major title in less than a year.
She also would have felt better if her game was stronger these first three rounds. If Henderson wins, she would replace Ko as the youngest LPGA player with two majors…. She was 8-over par through the first seven holes before settling down and recording pars on six of her next seven holes.
The US Women’s Open will conclude with the final day tomorrow.
Ko is a rare comet of a golfer, but Saturday night was going to be oh, so ordinary. “The key around major championships is that sometimes a par is a good score and you have to walk off and forget about the bads and focus about the shot you have in front of you”. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the first day or the last day or the third day or an extra day”. So I said, oh, I over read it again, huh? But nothing different. Nothing special to eat. “So I’m looking forward to it”. She tied for second in 2005, fifth in 2010, seventh in 2013 and 14th in 2015.
Amy Yang shot a 71 to get to 6 under, tied for second with first-round leader Mirim Lee. But the bogey on 17 dropped Park back to 8-under through two rounds and sent her to the clubhouse as the co-leader.
“I made kind of a dumb bogey on eight and found some trouble on nine, and that kind of took me off a little bit. So it was a lucky one”. “I thought, ‘I feel good, I want to give this a try, and I would like to see if this pays off.’ And I’m glad it did”.
Perhaps the biggest difference for Ko between Thursday and Friday was the putter.
“On the first hole, on the first day, I went out to the green and normally I line my putt up with my line”.
“It was a very slow start”, said Ko, who bogeyed her first hole. “She does a better job controlling them”. Danielle Kang is at 3 under and fellow Americans Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis and Kris Tamulis are among seven golfers five shots back at 2 under. “It’s impressive. She’s the master of it, it’s unreal”.
“I wasn’t expecting that to go in”, she said. “So just really do like I did today, not look at the scoreboard – it’s easier said than done”. All sectional qualifiers were 36-hole, stroke play tournaments. “That’s why I am comfortable, don’t even think about the winning”. For the first time this season, she played 18 holes without making a birdie.
However, Ko did report proudly that over the Christmas holidays last December, she did, indeed, stay up all night at a concert by Psy, the “Gagnam Style” rapper. Ko didn’t win the match but left an indelible impression on those who watched with her cool, which has become such a trademark during her precocious career.
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Whatever Ko is doing is working.
