“There’s a past U.S. Open champion, just a shot behind”. Then came the bad news for the Americans: So did world No. 1 Lydia Ko.
Advertisement
“This is the biggest championship in the USA”, said Ko, who started with a bogey, then made five birdies over a six-hole stretch on the front.
Ko birdied the 18th hole to cap a 2-under 70 in the third round Saturday that put her in the lead at the U.S. Women’s Open, bolstering her chance for her third major title in less than a year. She played in the afternoon Thursday and fired a 67.
“Coming to the tournament, I didn’t even think about winning because this is the first time for me”, she said of her maiden U.S. Women’s Open. Maybe, but they’ll likely have to duplicate what they did in the third round, and in some cases, better.
She has played three more LPGA tournaments this year, tying for sixth in her first major at the ANA Inspiration in the spring.
The lowest total score in a round in U.S. Open history is a 63 by Helen Alfredsson in 1994 at the par-71 Indianwood in MI.
Lee’s round was the best opening round in a US Women’s Open since Kelli Kuehne in 1999 and she told reporters after her round: “The course is flawless now”. She has needed only 25 putts in each of the second and third rounds.
Korean Park, who made her LPGA Tour debut at the Founders Cup in March, said she had benefited from a strategy of simply enjoying herself on the course.
“I look a lot calmer than what goes on in the inside. Why am I not able to control my hands?'” Ko said. 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. “I definitely do get nervous, but I think that’s part of it. I think nerves are good because it means you’re excited”.
“You just have to have a lot of discipline”.
“I didn’t even think about winning because this is the first time for me”, Park said through an interpreter. “It can end up being a little bit of adrenaline”.
Stanford was Wie’s cocoon, her place to be just another kid going to football games and cramming for exams.
Ko wasn’t phenomenal in the third round, simply steady.
She had a long birdie putt on No. 13 and it looked like she had just missed. She had a four-stroke lead after 54 holes at Lancaster last summer.
Hack held her own for much of the day in her first career appearance in the national championship.
Bogeys on the back nine drop Lydia Ko down the US Open leaderboard to finish in fourth.
“I mean, we played in the morning and took advantage of it, obviously”. But I still played – I thought there were so many positives, you know, from that final round at Sahalee (where she lost the Women’s PGA Championship to Brooke Henderson).
“Probably better than today”, she said. “But overall, very happy”.
Wes Short Jr., and Monday qualifier Neal Lancaster also shot 66 and were tied for fourth at 9 under.
Advertisement
Perhaps sitting in the best spot is Ji, an experienced player who claimed the title in 2009, one of seven South Koreans who’ve won the past 11 Opens. Lang knocked down a cold-blooded, right-breaking putt on No. 17 that appeared to be a make-or-break moment.
