There are some inevitable truths to major championship golf and Brooke Henderson smashed into one of them head on Saturday in the third round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club.
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The 18-year-old Canadian aced the par-three 13th – her fourth hole of the day – when a seven iron from 155 yards caught the edge of the green and rolled into the cup at Sahalee Country Club.
Henderson relied on a red-hot putter as she hit just 10 of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens but needed only 23 putts at the US$3.5 million (S$4.7 million) tournament. When she completed that round, the seven-time victor of LPGA majors met the Hall of Fame requirement of playing at least 10 events in 10 years.
Henderson hit a seven iron from 152 yards to record her fourth career hole in one and win a vehicle in the process.
Park will return to Sahalee on Friday, and the seven-time major victor will continue her improbable pursuit of a fourth consecutive title in this event. At 27, Park is also the youngest to enter the Hall of Fame.
“I’ve got to just try my best and have fun”. And I missed a lot of shots to the right.
“I really had the goal of playing well this week”, Park said.
Park, the 24th player to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, has 17 tour wins that include seven major titles.
Ko said she’d be trying to maintain a relaxed approach on the final day, as she looked to add her third major after winning at Evian a year ago and at the ANA Inspiration in April.
“It was a tough day and the conditions made it hard, I hung in there”, she added.
“It usually gets a little more exhausted later in the day”, Park said of her injured thumb.
“Making the turn I was a little shaky”, Henderson said.
Christina Kim and I.K. Kim followed at 69, with the afternoon wave still on the course. Both of Ko’s bogeys came after she missed the fairway and had to pitch out from the trees.
Piller is hoping she can finally make a breakthrough after three years of progressively getting closer to her first career victory.
She has hinted this week, however, that she may give someone else a chance to play if she isn’t healthy enough to compete. Down to seventh in the world, the 31-year-old American is winless in 50 starts since June 2014. Wie shot an 80 today with nine bogeys to finish tied for 132nd at 16 over.
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Starting the second round in a share of 10th place, the Kiwi world No 1 withstood some wild weather to card a one-under par 70 to move into a tie for third on one-under for the tournament. She’s winless since the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open and hasn’t had a top-10 finish in 36 events.
