Brooke Henderson ended up giving back a stroke and is in a tie at the top of the leaderboard with Nelly Korda at 14 under par heading into today’s final round of the Lotte Championship at Ko Olina.
But the defending champion birdied No. 15 to regain the solo lead at 15 under for a while.
That hole has been very good to Henderson this week. Her approach shot dropped into the cup for eagle in Wednesday’s first round, and Henderson birdied it on Thursday.
Korda battles back
The degree of difficulty at Ko Olina Golf Club has been tougher for the golfers each day this week as the winds got stronger. The gusts are expected to be as strong for today’s final round as they were Friday.
The average score for the first three rounds was 71.3 on Wednesday, 72.2 on Thursday and 72.9 on Friday.
But Nelly Korda — playing here for the first time — has performed admirably throughout, and her 1-under 71 on Friday was good enough to get her back where she was Wednesday, atop the leaderboard.
Like many others, Korda struggled with the wind and played to 1 over before making the turn and posting three birdies.
But she blamed herself more than the elements for her early-round problems.
“Was a bit of a frustrating day on the front nine, was not hitting it well,” Korda said. “I was not putting well at all. … Wasn’t the happiest camper out there.”
But, as Korda said, she “kinda got it back on the back nine.”
Ariya climbs to fifth
Ariya Jutanugarn shot 66, finishing the day at 12 under par and three shots off the lead.
The former world No. 1 was solid throughout the round, with three birdies on each nine and no bogeys. Jutanugarn finished tied for eighth at the HSBC in February for her only top 10 of 2019.
Jutanugarn said she has been questioning herself too much recently and felt more focused Friday.
“I’m just going to do every shot my best and trust my decision,” said Jutanugarn, who added that she didn’t worry about the leaders because she thought she was too far back to catch them.
“I’m just going to keep doing that tomorrow,” said the 2018 Women’s Open champion and winner of player of the year for the second time. “Tomorrow I hope I can do it again.”
2 eagles for Ciganda
Carlota Ciganda carded eagles on holes No. 1 and 13 on Friday, as she turned in a 5 under and climbed into a tie for eighth at 8 under overall.
Ciganda, who is eighth in the world rankings, was a combined 6 under on the four par-5s, with birdies on the other two.
And 1 for Lee
Minjee Lee, the 2016 Lotte winner, had a mostly uneventful day with 17 pars. But her eagle on the par-5 fifth kept her in the chase to become the event’s first two-time winner, just a shot off the lead.
“Yeah, that was awesome,” she said. “I mean, it was pretty hard out there. The wind was really gusty and the … pin placements were pretty hard for the wind direction we had.”
A little bit better putting Friday and Lee could be atop the leaderboard heading into the final round.
“I had a few birdie chances that I could have made but I didn’t make them, so, yeah, ended up having nine pars in a row on the back nine. It’s better than bogeys …”
