Defending champion Jin Young Ko of South Korea carded a 7-under 65 on Saturday to surge into the lead on the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
The 13-time LPGA Tour winner endured a two-hour rain delay and posted eight birdies and one bogey to maneuver to 14 beneath on the Tanjong Course at Sentosa Golf Club.
“I tried to focus really hard on the front nine, and I got four birdies in five holes. I felt, yeah, today is a good day, so keep going,” stated Ko, who hit 11 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens on Saturday. “I tried (hard) on the back nine. I played well today but I had some missed putts and some great shots but not good shoots, too. It’s okay, I have one more round to go so let’s keep it up.”
Four American golfers are on Ko’s heels. Nelly Korda (68 Saturday) is second at 12 beneath, adopted by Allisen Corpuz (70) and Elizabeth Szokol (70) at 11 beneath and 36-hole chief Danielle Kang (72) at -10.
Korda salvaged an up-and-down spherical with birdies on the par-3 seventeenth and par-4 18th. Her tee shot at 17 flirted with the water on her left and the bunkers in need of the inexperienced.
“I was just trying to give myself like 20 to 30 feet long, actually. And obviously, that’s kind of a pin position where even if you go right or left, you still have to fly the bunker. So may as well go straight at it. I did get a little lucky there,” Korda stated. “I know that it hit just in the fringe and it rolled up to probably four feet, three and a half, hour feet. I told my caddie, I don’t think anyone is going to see a shot somewhat short of this hole on the green.”
Four gamers are tied for sixth at -9, together with LPGA Tour winner Celine Boutier, Japanese natives Nasa Hataoka and Ayaka Furue and Sweden’s Linn Grant.
Corpuz is trying to grow to be the primary participant from Hawaii to win on the LPGA Tour since Michelle Wie West received the 2018 HSBC Women’s World Championship.
With the $270,000 winner’s examine on Sunday, Szokol would surpass the $1 million mark in profession earnings.
–Field Level Media