Lotte notes: World-wide attraction
If Brooke Henderson of Canada holds on to her slim lead in today’s final round, a champion will be crowned from a fifth different country in the seven years of the Lotte Championship.
Though the tournament’s champions have come from all over the world, the rest of the Lotte leaderboard has often been dominated by golfers from South Korea.
That is not the case this year, however. Former world No. 1 and 2015 Lotte runner-up Inbee Park (tied for third) and Ji Hyun Kim (tied for ninth) were the only South Koreans to finish the third round among the 14 players at least tied for the top 10.
Those 14 were from nine different countries. The U.S. was represented by the most, with four, led by Mo Martin, who was alone in second after her par 72, one shot behind Henderson.
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Salas under par without driver
Lizette Salas turned in a round of 2-under-par 70 to move to 6 under for the tournament and into a tie for fifth heading into the final round — and did it without her driver for most of the day.
“It’s Friday the 13th for some reason, huh?” she said after the round.
After missing a short par putt on the second hole, a frustrated Salas tossed her putter at her bag. When she went to the third tee, her driver came out in two pieces.
“Yeah, big oops,” she said. “So we’ll make some phone calls and see if we can get that fixed by tomorrow. I played pretty decent with no driver today.”
Forced to hit 3-woods off the tee the rest of the day, she birdied her next hole and added another on the par-4 11th while staying bogey free over her last 16 holes.
“I had to regroup, get it together on 3, and luckily it was downwind, so 3-wood was the club anyway,” Salas said.
“I just started thinking ahead, like, ‘Oh, my God, what holes are going to be tough?’ I had to scratch it and focus on the shot ahead. Actually birdied 3 and hit some really solid shots, so I’m happy with my 2 under par with no driver.”
Hyo Joo Kim fires an ace
Hyo Joo Kim became the first player to manage a hole-in-one at this week’s LPGA Tour event during Friday’s third round, much to her delight.
She used a 6-iron from 157 yards at the par-3 12th, and the golf ball tracked steady and true off the tee, landing in the middle of the green with three small hops, then rolling another 8 feet right into the hole.
Kim also managed a more traditional eagle at the par-5 14th to knock four shots off her score in only three holes. She also birdied the 15th before returning to earth with two bogeys over the last three holes.
She begins today’s final round tied for 32nd at 1 over for the event. Even with her two eagles, Kim shot an even-par 72 for her round.
Inside the numbers
The scoring average for Friday’s third round was a healthy 72.44. That was an expected improvement over Thursday’s second round of 73.06 and Wednesday’s 74.64 in more blustery conditions.
Scores generally go lower over the final two rounds because you have fewer golfers in the field and they generally are the better players.
The hardest hole for the third straight day was the par-4 18th. There were no birdies in the opening round, 11 in the second round and five on Friday, including one by Michelle Wie. There were also 33 pars, 28 bogeys, six doubles and two scores of plus 3 or more. The scoring average was 4.57.
The easiest hole was the par-5 13th, with an average score of 4.49. There were three eagles, 36 birdies, 31 pars and four bogeys.