The South Korean star was never more excited to make bogey than on the 18th to finish off the first round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – the round that made her eligible for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
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On the flip side, Catriona Matthew played the strongest round of the morning.
“I am happy I was able to limit my mistakes”, said Miyazato. As soon as we figured out it was the auto hole, she mentioned it again.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko has her fate in her hands as she takes a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Women’s PGA Championship.
A bogey on the 12th saw her drop to par but a remarkable a hole-in-one on the 13th helped her recover, before sinking two more birdies on the back nine. Park earned the 27-point requirement at the end of last season by winning the Vare Trophy for low scoring.
“Going into Evian and ANA I just had very calm thoughts, very positive thoughts, to the final round”, she said. “I really saw firsthand what she’s capable of”. He had a hand in convincing Jutanugarn to eschew an erratic driver – she doesn’t even have it in the bag this week, and didn’t during her recent victory at the LPGA Volvik Championship – for the effective 230-yard line drives she can hit with her 18-degree driving iron. “I pulled my shot a little bit, caught the left apron and followed right into the hole”.
“It was kind of expected, because …” Park lipped-out a par putt on the ninth hole, her last of the day, that could be the difference in whether she makes the cut. If her thumb was throbbing, her face did not let on. “And we played good golf and we enjoyed it. I don’t think I’ve had a group like this, this big, before”.
She rolled in a 15-footer to save par at No. 11, but bogeyed two of the next three holes to fall to even par. Ko played an ever-par front nine, which included a near-ace on No. 9, but her back nine was a thing of beauty. And when she does err, she somehow escapes with a clutch putt or chip.
You can check out her reaction when she got to the green below. “I hated that course”, she laughed. “My thumb is much better than what I have expected, and I will be there tomorrow”. Park is only the 24th player in the LPGA Hall of Fame and first since Pak in 2007. She celebrated with family, Hall of Famers, fellow player and tour officials as she walked off the green.
This is shaping up to be a great major tournament on a tough and challenging tree lined golf course. “It’s going to take deep in my heart. It’s the utmost gift that I’ve had as a professional golfer”.
And the Canadian teenager closed with birdies at Nos.
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Three-time defending champion Inbee Park also shot 72 to sit five strokes back and upon completing her round officially qualified for the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame. Purse: $3.5 million. (First prize: $525,000) Television: NBC Sports (Saturday, 2-5 p.m., Sunday 4:30-6 p.m.); Golf Channel (Today-Friday, 7-10 p.m., Saturday 5-6 p.m., Sunday, 6-8:30 p.m.).
