Tag: Lydia Ko

Lydia Ko dedicated her Olympic bronze medal to late grandma: I was ‘playing for her’

Lydia Ko is now a two-time Olympic medalist.

After winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, Lydia Ko is now a two-time Olympic medalist. And the New Zealand golfer dedicated her newest medal to her late grandmother, who died during the Games, she said.

Ko — who also won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics — finished third in the competition after losing a playoff for silver to Japan’s Mone Inami, while Team USA’s Nelly Korda won gold. Ko shot 65 in the final round.

In an emotional interview afterward with the bronze around her neck, Ko said she was playing for her late grandmother all week — in addition to her family and country – and dedicated the medal to her.

The 24-year-old LPGA star and former world No. 1 pro told the Golf Channel:

“It’s really cool. When I was out there playing, I said all week I’m out there playing for my country, and it’s a huge privilege to be able to represent New Zealand and to be able to have brought two medals for New Zealand. I’m super honored.

“Actually in our private life, we lost our grandmother I guess within a week ago, and I was, I think, also playing for her as well. …

“I just wanted to make our family really proud and our country proud, and to be able to win a medal for them, I think it means so much not to me but to everyone that has been in this journey with me. So this is for my grandma.”

Ko finished the Olympic tournament with a 70-67-66-65 performance.

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Sisters Nelly Korda and Jessica Korda team up, take share of early lead at Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational

Nelly Korda played with big sister Jessica as her partner in her first event as the No. 1 player in the world.

Nelly Korda played with big sister Jessica as her partner in her first event as the No. 1 player in the world. The round started on the first tee with new LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan handing out the No. 1 caddie bib to Nelly’s longtime looper, Jason McDede.

The round ended with the Kordas in a share of the lead at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational after an opening 5-under 65 in the alternate-shot format. The pair are joined by defending champions Cydney Clanton/Jasmine Suwannapura, Aditi Ashok/Pajaree Anannarukarn and Lauren Stephenson/Jillian Hollis.

Asked what she did to celebrate becoming No. 1, Nelly said: “Absolutely nothing.”

Jessica added: “Watched our brother play tennis.”

“Yeah, I was stressed and watched Seb play tennis the first week honestly,” Nelly continued, “and then I took a few days off and then I got back to grinding again. We have a lot of events, important events coming up. You don’t even have the time to kind of let it sink in in a sense to kind of enjoy it, but I just took a couple days for myself and just started practicing again.”

Playing in the inaugural Dow helped the sister act develop a plan for teaming up together. It helps, too, that together they’ve won four events this season.

“Obviously playing Solheim Cup after this event last year, our last time we were here was super helpful, as well,” said Jessica.

“We have had a pretty good game plan, and our caddies actually went to dinner last night with their books. They’re super nerdy about it. I think they were honestly more excited about this whole experience.”

The Kordas posted one bogey in the opening round on the par-5 11th.

Another set of sisters – Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn – are two shots back in a share of seventh.

“We had not a lot of fight,” said Moriya, “and if I get mad, try to walk away and not talking for her for like maybe one hole or two.”

Lydia Ko and Danielle Kang recorded seven birdies in their opening round and finished at 2 under.

“Having known her for so long I think it puts a little bit less pressure and I’m not like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m so sorry after a bad shot,’ ” said Ko.

“I think almost when you’re playing in this kind of format, I’m taking a little longer because I want to do better for her and just for the team.”

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Stargazing: Patty Tavatanakit and Lydia Ko grouped together for first two rounds of LA Open

Lydia Ko took the day off and went to the beach in Santa Monica where a seagull, making a dive for her sandwich, took a bite of her too.

With Wilshire Country Club closed to players on Sunday, Lydia Ko took the day off and went to the beach in Santa Monica where a seagull, making a dive for her sandwich, managed to take a bite of her too.

Ko knows all too well what it’s like to be bombarded – with questions, expectations and requests. Having a bird try to steal her lunch might be the most normal part of her day, particularly after winning for the first time in three years the day prior.

For rookie Patty Tavatanakit, however, the increased attention has already felt a bit overwhelming. Tavatanakit, 21, held off a hard-charging Ko at the ANA Inspiration earlier this month for a wire-to-tire victory in the desert. She returns to the tour at this week’s Hugel Air Premia LA Open, where she and Ko are grouped together in the first two rounds along with Jessica Korda. The trio tee off at 4:10 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

“I feel like I had to constantly be self-aware and just tell myself to calm down or focus more,” said Tavatanakit moments after signing an autograph. “I’ve been kind of trying to be disciplined on doing my meditation to help with that.”

Tavatanakit is friendly by nature and while she doesn’t want to change her demeanor, she is aware that increased attention leads to a decrease in energy.

“I just feel like sometimes, I just want a moment to myself,” she said, “and just everyone please ignore me like I’m not here.”

At least the vibe this week is a familiar one for Tavatanakit as she went to school 7 miles down the road at UCLA. On Sunday, the Thai bomber brought Randy’s doughnuts out to the Bruins’ practice. The UCLA team typically practices out at Wilshire on Wednesday mornings.

“I basically like grew up as a good dominant player in college here in this city,” said Tavatanakit, who won seven times as a Bruin, “so it means a lot just to come back and play here.”

Lydia Ko
Lydia Ko reacts after her putt on the eighth hole during the second round of the ANA Inspiration golf tournament at Mission Hills Country Club. (Photo: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports)

Ko, meanwhile, is navigating a different kind of comeback. The former No. 1, who turns 24 on Saturday, followed up a closing 62 at the ANA with a seven-stroke victory at the Lotte Championship, finishing at 28-under par. She’s 38 under in her last 90 holes.

The Kiwi’s 16th career victory moved her to No. 7 in the world, cracking the top 10 in the Rolex Rankings for the first time since February 2018. Ko has been ranked in the top 10 for 40 percent of her career.

“To say that my life was turned upside down after the win, I don’t think that is the truth,” said Ko. “Obviously it was great just to be in contention and then end up winning. I think that settled some of the doubts I had in myself.

“But after that, yeah, you know, I think there was some mixed emotions, but I felt pretty calm about everything and just I felt pretty calm playing. That’s where I feel like it should be.”

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Lynch: Jordan Spieth, Lydia Ko step back from abyss, but resurrections are rare, even for the greats

No cliché is more kindly yet bromidic than the assertion that a slumping star will win again simply because he or she is too good not to.

Among the plentiful clichés permeating golf commentary, there is none more kindly yet bromidic than the assertion that a slumping star will win again simply because he or she is too good not to. It’s a polite fiction, peddled about almost every prominent professional who achieved early success only to plunge into, if not obscurity, then at least irrelevance. As analysis, it lies somewhere between sentimentality and sycophancy, but nowhere close to sound.

Golf’s recent run of resurrections began—appropriately enough, for those particular to the low-hanging fruit such narratives represent—on Easter Sunday, when Jordan Spieth won the Valero Texas Open for his first victory in almost four years. A week later, Hideki Matsuyama’s Masters triumph ended a drought of similar duration. And on Saturday, Lydia Ko completed the trifecta (or trinity) with a seven-stroke romp at the LPGA’s Lotte Championship after three years wandering the desert in search of a title.

These comebacks—particularly those of Spieth and Ko—are welcome positives for their respective Tours. Both are likable and engaging personalities whose lack of form never once manifested itself in a lack of class or professionalism. All slumps are relative, of course. The results posted by Spieth and Ko suggest they were more searching than wholly lost, with the odd encouraging hint of familiar brilliance amid too much mediocrity.

Jordan Spieth
Jordan Spieth walks off the first tee box during the third round of the 2021 Valero Texas Open. (Photo: Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports)

But whatever led them back to the winner’s circle—determination, talent, hard work, perseverance—it was assuredly not the mawkish twaddle that they were just too good not to be there again.

Just as cemeteries are full of indispensable people, lesser Tours and broadcasting booths are peopled with those thought too good not to win again. Some of the falls from grace were so precipitous as to become shorthand reference points even for casual fans.

The obvious one is David Duval. He won 13 PGA Tour titles in under four years, culminating in his Open Championship victory at Royal Lytham 20 years ago. A few months later in Japan, two days after his 30th birthday, he cashed his last winner’s check.

The Claret Jug can seem a poisoned chalice for some of its recipients. Ian Baker-Finch won it a decade before Duval, but six years later he wept in the locker room at Royal Troon when he couldn’t break 90 in the opening round. That afternoon he withdrew from the Open and quit tournament golf.

Seve Ballesteros won three Opens but was only 38 years old when the victories dried up, his swing and body decayed beyond repair. A friend of mine once asked Seve—a man not given to modesty—who would win if Europe’s ‘Big Five’ of the ‘80s faced off at their best. “Sandy would win,” Seve replied firmly. “But I would be second.” Yet Sandy—as in Lyle, Open and Masters champion—was finished even earlier than Seve, at age 34, not counting a European Seniors win and a couple of hickory events in his native Scotland.

Lyle’s Open came at Royal St. George’s, where the championship makes its overdue return (pandemic permitting) in July. Four years earlier at RSG’s, Bill Rogers won the Jug, one of seven worldwide titles the 30-year-old Texan claimed in ’81. By ’88, Rogers was working in a San Antonio pro shop, burned out and far removed from his last win. Yani Tseng won two Women’s British Opens among her five majors and 15 LPGA titles, all in a four-year span. She was 23 when the slump started. She’s now 32 with a world ranking of 1,025th. We can reach back further. Ralph Guldahl: 16 wins, three majors, done at 29.

Every one of those stars met the treacly threshold of being too good not to win again,

Ko’s win proved that fine players can rediscover the magic, but if you knew where to look the same week bore reminders that that many simply can’t, no matter how hard they try. Martin Kaymer was third in the European Tour’s Austrian Open on Sunday. The German hasn’t won since the very day he was proclaimed golf’s dominant force—June 15, 2014, the day he won the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 by eight shots, a month after having won the Players Championship. He was 29 years old with two majors on a 23-win résumé. He’s now 36 but the résumé requires no updating.

Men with lesser records sail on, their careers glorious wrecks of what was once promised. Luke Donald was runner-up in the RBC Heritage five times, but this week he missed the cut for the 15th time in his last 17 starts. The former world No. 1 is almost a decade distant from his last W, and ranked 584th. Matteo Manassero won the British Amateur and made a Masters cut at age 16, and had four European Tour wins at 20. He’s now playing now on the Alps Tour, not a circuit anyone wants to play his way back to.

None of the aforementioned are working less assiduously than did Spieth and Ko, and stand as testament that talent and determination is not always sufficient for reward at the highest level. This is a capricious sport, and the road back to relevance will prove impassable for most. After her victory, Ko credited Spieth with inspiring her. She knew he had been tilling fields that had lain fallow for several seasons before his win in Texas. Perhaps hers will in turn spark someone else who knows they are good enough to win again, and who understands that none are too good not to.

She’s back! Lydia Ko ends three-year victory drought with dominating performance at Lotte Championship

Lydia Ko ended a 1,084-day victory drought with an absolute dart show at the Lotte Championship.

Lydia Ko ended a 1,084-day victory drought with an absolute dart show at the Lotte Championship. Call it a breakthrough, a comeback, a resurgence, a feel-good win for anyone who loves golf.

Ko didn’t just win at Kapolei, she owned the place, and gosh was it fun. When it was over, Ko said she took inspiration from recent drought-ending victories by Jordan Spieth (1,351 days) and Hideki Matsuyama (1,344 days).

“That kind of gave me a little bit of hope saying maybe I could follow that trend,” said Ko, who won the Lotte by seven strokes and now owns 16 LPGA titles. The 23-year-old Kiwi’s last victory came on April 29, 2018, at the LPGA Mediheal Championship.

Ko finished the Lotte at 28-under 260 thanks to a closing 65. She’s 38 under par in her last 90 holes.

After that closing 62 at the ANA Inspiration, the lowest final round in LPGA major history, it’s no surprise to see Ko carry that momentum into Lotte, though it is a relief. The winningest teenager in the history of the LPGA took a dip in her early 20s, winning only once from July 2016 to this week on Oahu. An onslaught of changes drew criticism as Ko jumped from one instructor and caddie to the next. Even her physique has transformed several times.

Ko credits instructor Sean Foley with helping to resurrect her confidence.

“I just keep trying to point her inwards,” said Foley while walking around Augusta National last week.

It’s a matter of letting go of the wheel, he said, and tapping into what’s deep inside her. Playing with freedom. It was important that Ko didn’t try to force a victory, he said, quoting a Buddhist phrase that the bird doesn’t come to the hand that’s grasping for it.

Ko entered the final round in Hawaii with a one-shot lead over Nelly Korda after setting the 54-hole scoring record for the Lotte with a 21-under 195. It marked the 15th time Ko had shared the lead after 54 holes. She has now converted seven of those leads into victories.

Golf Channel analyst Karen Stupples noted that for years many have wondered if Ko would ever get back to form that saw her dominate the tour with 14 titles as a bespectacled teen.

“This version of Lydia Ko could potentially be even better,” Stupples said.

LPGA Hall of Famer Inbee Park, who is inching closer to reclaiming the No. 1 ranking, closed with a 63 to vault into a share of second with Sei Young Kim, rookie Leona Maguire and Korda.

After needing only 25 putts in each of her first three rounds, Korda took 32 putts in her final round. The ice-cold putter took considerable pressure off Ko, who built her lead to five through 10 holes.

Since reconnecting with trainer Craig Davies, Ko has gained 15 pounds of muscle. Davies said she goes at it so hard in the gym that they have to tell her  to scale back.

“I wouldn’t be able to walk after what she does,” said Davies, who works with a number of PGA Tour players, including Gary Woodland and Cameron Champ.

One of the attributes that separates Ko from most, Davies said, is that she’s not afraid to look silly trying something new, though she usually catches on quite quickly. Ko takes a holistic approach to her training, he said, and targets weaknesses.

A more athletic-looking Ko has focused on balance and body awareness, specifically being able to hold her form when she starts to get fatigued late in a tournament.

A longer and stronger Ko has enjoyed a remarkable consistency of late.

On Sunday at the ANA, Foley said one of his other students, Justin Rose, texted him updates when he was away from a TV.

“It’s the first time in a long time I had goosebumps doing my job,” said Foley of Ko’s white-hot start at Mission Hills.

Foley tells Ko that it’s not enough to be committed to shots. He wants conviction.

“I can feel conviction,” said Foley, circling his heart with his hand.

Ko admitted to not sleeping well going into the final round of the Marathon Classic last summer, where she squandered a a five-shot lead with six holes to play. Ko also said that she has, at times, wondered if she’d ever get back to the winner’s circle.

“I slept great last night,” said Ko. “I just said, ‘Hey, my fate is already chosen.”

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Lydia Ko birdies final hole to reach 21 under at LPGA LOTTE; leads Nelly Korda by one

Lydia Ko’s birdie on the 18th hole on Friday put her one shot ahead of Nelly Korda entering the final round of the LPGA LOTTE Championship.

Nelly Korda went deep in the third round of the LPGA LOTTE Championship on Friday, matching Lydia Ko’s round of 9-under 63 a day before, but Korda still couldn’t wrestle the lead away from Ko.

Entering the final round at Kapolei Golf Club on Oahu, Hawaii, Ko is 21 under and has a one-shot lead. She birdied the 18th hole for that slim edge on Korda.

Scores were low across the board, and Korda led the way with a 9-under 63 that even included a bogey at the par-4 10th. Farther down the leaderboard, Wei-Ling Hsu posted the same number, climbing from 52nd all the way to a tie for ninth. Hsu eagled the par-5 17th but bogeyed the last.

As for Ko, who two weeks ago posted the lowest final-round score in LPGA major championship history, a 10-under 62, at the ANA Inspiration, a third-round 65 was enough to keep her ahead of her pursuers.

Ko bogeyed the 11th hole in the first round, but has not made a bogey since.

Second-round leader Yuka Saso, a 19-year-old playing this week on a sponsor exemption, opened with back-to-back rounds of 64 but dropped to third on Friday with a 71 that included four bogeys on her front nine. She is 17 under for the tournament.

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Lydia Ko fires a 63, but 19-year-old Yuka Saso grabs lead after 36 holes at Lotte Championship in Hawaii

Lydia Ko went low on Thursday, firing a 63 at the Lotte Championship, but teenager Yuka Saso stole the show at Kapolei Golf Club in Hawaii.

It was just 11 days ago that Lydia Ko posted the lowest final round score in LPGA major championship history, a 10-under 62, at the ANA Inspiration.

On Thursday, in her second round since that amazing day at Mission Hills Country Club, Ko went low again, firing a 63 at the Lotte Championship.

But a few hours later, Yuka Saso stole the show at Kapolei Golf Club in Hawaii.

The 19-year-old, in the field on a sponsor invitation, birdied seven of her first 10 holes to tie Ko for the lead at 14 under.

Saso later birdied the 16th, sinking a long putt for a 2 to take the outright lead.

Then Saso made another birdie on 17 to go up by two shots at 16 under. She parred the 18th to shoot her second straight 64.

Saso won the 2019 Girls Junior PGA Championship a little more than two years ago. She turned pro four months after that and is currently a member of the Japan LPGA Tour, where she won twice last year. This season, she is third on the money list. She is seeking her first LPGA win.

LOTTE Championship: Leaderboard

It’s been three years Ko has won. So far this week, she has posted 15 birdies and just one bogey in two days.

Lydia Ko
Lydia Ko plays a tee shot on the 16th hole during the second round of the LPGA LOTTE Championship at Kapolei Golf Club on April 15, 2021 in Kapolei, Hawaii. (Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Luna Sobron Galmes posted a second-round 64 and is tied for third with Nelly Korda and So Yeon Ryu at 11 under.

Amateur Rose Zhang, who lost in a playoff on the Symetra Tour in Arizona three weeks ago, held the lead early in the second round but settled back into a tie for 10th after a 68 on Thursday.

Amy Yang made some noise on the par-3 12th hole by draining a hole-in-one, which got her to 8 under for the tournament. It’s the third ace on the LPGA in 2021.

The LPGA has returned to Hawaii for the first time since 2019. The Lotte Championship, once held at Ko Olina Golf Club, has moved to Kapolei Golf Club. This is the first time the tour has played at Kapolei since the 2001 Cup of Noodles Hawaiian Open.

The tournament has a Wednesday-to-Saturday competition schedule.

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Lydia Ko thrills with a 62 at ANA Inspiration to set record for lowest final round in LPGA major history

Lydia Ko began the round birdie-eagle, then notched four more birdies to post the first 29 in ANA history.

It almost felt like the 50th anniversary of the ANA Inspiration had two champions. While Patty Tavatanakit put on a remarkable display of power, finesse and poise to win the title, Lydia Ko put together the lowest final round in LPGA major championship history, a 10-under 62.

A “Hello World” moment from the Tiger-inspired Tavatanakit juxtaposed with a resurrection round from Ko, a one-time prodigy who at 23 years old looked to end a three-year victory drought three hours after Jordan Spieth did the same in Texas.

The unflappable Tavatanakit ultimately went wire-to-wire to win by two after a closing 68, becoming the first rookie to win the ANA since Juli Inkster in 1984.

Ko began the round birdie-eagle and then notched four more birdies to post the first 29 in ANA history. She was 9 under through 11 holes and within two shots of the lead after starting the day eight shots behind Tavatanakit.

Another birdie on the 15th made all kinds of history well within Ko’s grasp. Given that this is a player who rewrote ever youngest-to-ever record in golf history, anything seemed possible.

Even a 59.

When Ko stepped to the reachable par-5 18th tee, the most iconic hole on the LPGA, an eagle would’ve given her a 12-under 60, the lowest round in major championship history – male or female. A birdie would’ve tied her with Hyo Joo Kim’s major record of 61. A par tied the tournament record of 62 set by Lorena Ochoa.

Ko’s drive sailed left off the tee into a flock of birds, leaving those at home no choice but to hold their breath as she bypassed a cluster of palms and came entirely too close to the water.

After a layup, Ko hit a wedge from just under 100 yards to 22 feet. The birdie putt slid by and Ko’s chances at winning the tournament seemingly went with it. Her bogey-free 62, however, is the lowest final round in LPGA major history, besting her own record of 63 (2015 Evian Championship) and shared by Mary Beth Zimmermann, 1997 ANA Inspiration and Sei Young Kim, 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

ANA Inspiration: Leaderboard | Photo gallery

“No, 59 did not come across my mind,” said Ko. “Maybe if I was like Annika, it would have come across my mind, I don’t know.”

Tavatanakit said she didn’t have a clue what Ko was up to ahead of her, not looking at a leaderboard all day. The fact that there were no fans on the course made that possible. Ko would’ve had the place rocking.

Where does a round like this take the humble Ko?

So few stars find a way to re-build themselves to a level of domination after so long a drought. But then again, Ko is unlike any other player who has come before her.

Time and again she credits her work with Sean Foley, as much for how he helps her mentally as anything else. Earlier in the week, Foley told her she needed to have 100 percent conviction over every shot, correcting Ko’s use of the word commitment.

“I think the area that Sean has really helped me is to sometimes call me and he’ll say a few things and I’ll be like, ‘Whoa, that was way too much.’ Not like technical stuff, but he kind of gives me like a word slap, like wake up, and I think that’s what we all need at some point,” said Ko. “Sometimes you just get in the way of your way.

Lydia Ko
Lydia Ko walks to the 18th green on Sunday, April 4, 2021, at ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. (Photo: Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun)

“I know that sometimes I get in the way of myself, and at the end of the day all I can do is – it’s me against the golf course, and sometimes the me part is the really hard thing to get over. He’s been really helpful to clear those questions and kind of build the confidence in me.”

As Ko fielded questions after her record round, she kept an eye on the 18th green. When Tavatanakit clinched the title, Ko broke into a smile and started to clap.

Champions in every sense of the word.

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Patty Tavatanakit holds off Lydia Ko’s charge to win ANA Inspiration

Patty Tavatanakit played steady in the final round of the ANA Inspiration as Lydia Ko surged. The 21-year-old is now an LPGA major champion.

The first major on the LPGA calendar ended with plenty of drama. In the end Lydia Ko couldn’t quite chase down Patty Tavatanakit at the ANA Inspiration despite firing a final-round 62.

Tavatankit did some scoring herself on the final day at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, California, stringing together 15 pars along with an eagle and two birdies for a final-round 68. At 18 under, Tavatanakit was two shots ahead of Ko in second. She put together four rounds in the 60s.

This is not only Tavatanakit’s first major title, it’s her first LPGA title. The 21-year-old’s previous best finish on the LPGA was a share of fifth.

Had Ko managed to pull it off, it would have been her first LPGA title since 2018. Ko, 23, won this championship in 2016. The former World No. 1 has 15 career titles.

“I don’t think there was an exact moment where I felt like, ‘OK, this is going to be a good one,’” Ko said on Golf Channel of her final-round 62, the lowest final round in a major in LPGA history. “Especially around a course like this you just have to focus until that last putt drops in the last hole.”

Ko felt like she gave as good a chase as she could have.

“Maybe Patty was just a bit too far away,” she said.

Tavatanakit said she never focused on what Ko was doing ahead of her.

“Just kept hitting good shots, my putting, I rolled well, just didn’t read it well today,” she told Golf Channel. “Overall I really feel like I did stick to my game plan and I overcame he adversity out there. It was tough mentally and I just feel like it was a lot going on and I handled it well.”

Life will now be different as a major winner.

“I’m like, so pumped!” she could be heard saying as she walked off the green after being doused in champagne.

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Lake Nona resident Lydia Ko leads LPGA Gainbridge with Nelly Korda hot on her heels

Lydia Ko takes the lead at the LPGA Gainbridge with Nelly Korda in contention after the second round.

ORLANDO, Florida – Lydia Ko studied the hole locations on Thursday night and thought Round 2 at her home course might be a tougher test. A number of back pins on the back nine (her front) made for a longer day.

In the end, she was pleased with a 3-under 69, which proved good enough to keep her atop the leaderboard through two rounds of the Gainbridge LPGA. Ko had considered skipping this event after having surgery in the offseason to correct a deviated septum. She hadn’t gotten the prep work done that she felt she needed. But when the event moved to Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, where Ko resides, it was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

“There was a stretch of a few holes where I couldn’t really hit any tee shot on the fairways,” said Ko, “but I think it was pretty solid and I’m happy to have shot 3 under.

“I think it’s a lot of like positive things going into the weekend.”

Gainbridge LPGA: Leaderboard

The 15-time tour winner is looking to win for the first time since April 2018 at the LPGA Mediheal Championship.

Ko’s 10-under 134 puts her one shot ahead of Nelly Korda, who made four birdies in her last nine holes to shoot 68.

“I just made a little too many mistakes on my front nine,” said Korda. “And it was weird, I mean, I hit solid shots. They just went over the green. You kind of screw yourself a little.”

While two of the biggest names in the game today top the LPGA board, much attention has been paid down toward the cut line where 50-year-old Annika Sorenstam, a longtime Nona resident, sits at 2 over. The 10-time major winner is looking to play the weekend in her first LPGA start since 2008.

“It’s just a bonus, it really is,” said Sorenstam of potentially playing the weekend. “There is nothing you can do at this point. I’m going to grab a nice lunch and hang out with some friends and family and we’ll see happens.”

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