Charley Hull and Anna Nordqvist each birdied the 18th hole Saturday to claim a share of the third-round lead at 12-under-par at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic. Hull and Nordqvist have a trio of capable contenders, including three top-10 players in the world - defending champion and No. 7 Sei Young Kim, No. 3 Stacy Lewis, and No. 10 Hyo Joo Kim – just one shot back.
“I’m really excited,” said Nordqvist. “I really had zero expectations coming into this week,” Nordqvist said. “It’s the first tournament of the year. I’m just excited to be back playing. Put in a lot of work this winter. Who knows when it’s going to pay off but I’ve been pretty happy with the way I’ve been striking it and playing this week so far.
Nordqvist is looking for her sixth career LPGA win this week with her last win coming at last year’s ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer. Hull is searching for her first career win and Sunday will mark the first time as an LPGA pro that she’s slept on the share of a 54-hole lead.
Everyone in contention wants to start the season with a win but perhaps no one more than Lewis. The 11-time LPGA winner endured a frustrating 2015 season in which she finished third on the money list but didn’t crack the win column. Since her last win at the 2014 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, Lewis has posted 11 top-three finishes, eight of which are runner-ups over that span. In 2015 alone, she posted six runner-ups and felt she largely wasted her best year ever with the putter because her ball striking wasn’t up to her usual standards.
“I mean, my goal this week was to be in this position right here, to be in that last group going into the final day,” Lewis said. “And honestly, the best thing about this week is how I’m so happy with how my ball striking is. I mean, if I win tomorrow, that’s great, but my golf swing is where it needs to be. My wedges are getting better. I’m still not quite trusting them so there’s room to improve there. I haven’t played anywhere close to my best golf yet this week and I’ve got a chance to win tomorrow. That’s getting back to where I was before.”
Where she was before is the pinnacle of the Tour. Lewis swept all of the major awards in 2014 – Rolex Player of the Year, Vare Trophy and money list title – and if she’s getting the ball striking back to where it was the year before last, that’s frightening for the rest of the Tour.
“That was a frustrating part about last year is I felt like I was putting it better than I ever had, I just wasn’t giving myself the opportunities,” Lewis said. “So going into the off time, I knew if I could get my wedges and ball striking back to normal, that the putts would start going in from there.”
Click here to watch Lewis' post-round interview.
Sei Young Kim, who earned a three-hole playoff victory here last year, could become the first player in the event’s four-year history to repeat and would be the first player on the LPGA Tour to successfully defend a title since Inbee Park did it last summer at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
She looked in control on the leaderboard on Saturday when she got to 12-under par and 5-under for the day with a birdie on the par 4, 13th. But a costly double bogey on the 16th hole dropped her two shots back. Kim recovered with a birdie at the last to get back within one.
“Yeah, today pretty well played,” said Kim. “I missed 16th hole, so I probably hit the tee shot was a bad choice. I’m very disappointed there. I’m okay. I have a one day, tomorrow, yeah. Very exciting. I have one more chance opportunity. Yeah, I have a shot tomorrow, so I do my best tomorrow.”
Ha Na Jang made history on Saturday, recording an albatross at the par 4, 8th hole. The tee was moved up during the third round, making the hole reachable at 232 yards from the tee. Jang is the first in the history of the LPGA Tour to record an albatross on a par 4.
Click here for Jang’s post-round interview.
Ilhee Lee (-10) and Candie Kung (-5) posted the low rounds of the day with 7-under par, 66.
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