Then came the bad news for the Americans: So did world No. 1 Lydia Ko. There was our group heading up with us following the three-some of Ko, Danielle Kang and Haru Nomura.
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Lydia Ko is right in the mix at the US Women’s Open.
“My birdie on three kind of turned the round around and making the string of birdies definitely helped”, she said.
Ko is probably the most even keeled golfer I’ve seen. “Because there’s so many great players out there, especially at a course during these majors, you never know what’s going to happen”.
“There’s a lot of golf to be played, so I don’t really want to get ahead of myself”. Once again showing uncanny maturity for someone so young, she reverted to the kind of conservative play mode that works well on the weekend at a USGA event when par is your friend. “I’ve only won once, so obviously I’m not doing a very good job with it. So it will be a good test”.
“I wasn’t expecting that to go in”, she said. “I think that’s the big key I’ve been learning, just keep my head high and just enjoy it out here”. No smile, just disbelief. I made a couple of mistakes on the back nine club-wise and aiming-wise, really.
“I said, ‘Man, why am I so nervous?” She then threw her ball into the stands in celebration.
“I’ll take any shot advantage I can”, Ko added. It was a lucky one. “Made a bomb on six to get going”. She leads the circuit in putting, scoring and smiling.
Park faltered on No. 9 with a double and bogeyed Nos.
Ko wasn’t phenomenal in the third round, simply steady. Yet she has only that one victory, in 2012.
And there was Ko who drove down the middle, hit a tremendous lag putt to set up easy pars, got out of what little trouble she did get into and finished 1-under. She also has won more LPGA titles (13) than those players combined (10).
It was a disappointing U.S. Open for former teen phenom Michelle Wie, who missed the 4-over cut by one stroke to miss the weekend’s championship rounds. It can be tough.
Ko is going for her third major championship in the last four played.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Simon opened with a two-over-par 74, but Lee-Anne Pace had a much tougher time in the blustery afternoon conditions and carded an uninspiring first round 78 at the US Women’s Open in California on Thursday.
Now, she said, she has learned how to deal with those emotions and harness them. “He does concerts in December and I think I went to his concert on the 23rd, midnight, yeah, December. I did not believe I was able to win like this”, said Froome, who used a left jab to push aside a fan running too close to him before his stunning descent.
“You just have to have a lot of discipline. It can end up being a little bit of adrenaline”. I don’t know if that’s experience of playing in these tournaments.
South Korean Mirim Lee and American Cristie Kerr staged a birdie-thon throughout the calm, cool morning hours. “I felt like I gave three or four shots away on the greens that could have put me at a score around par”.
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While all parts of her game have been off at different times during the first 54 holes, it might be her inability to hit greens that’s cost her. Henderson is tied for 54th in that category reaching just 32 out of 54 greens, that for a player who is ranked ninth for the year in the same category on the LPGA Tour. In fact, on vacation in her native South Korea last December, Ko did stay up nearly all night attending with her sister and friends a Psy concert.
