Now in her 24th season on the LPGA Tour, Cristie Kerr remains a force to be reckoned with on the golf course. After opening the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open with a disappointing 3-over 76, Kerr played her next 54 holes at a combined 10-under par. Her final round 4-under 69, Sunday’s only sub-70 round, pulled her into a tie for sixth at -8.

“Golf has always been one of my first loves and it’s just really hard.,” said Kerr, who nearly aced the par-3 16th. “When you play well, like I did today and the last couple of days, you just kind of feel invincible. Golf keeps you young. The sport keeps you young and it never gets old.”

Kerr was playing in just her third Women’s Australian Open and notched her career-best finish. She tied for 13th in 2018 at Adelaide’s Kooyonga Golf Club and tied for 51st in 2012 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

ALL ABOUT THE PUTTING FOR INBEE PARK

Take it from the queen of the greens. According to Inbee Park, putting is the most important aspect of the golf game. She is known as one of the best putters ever to play the game. But for the last few years, Park admits that she hasn’t quite been herself with her short game.

“My putter really hasn’t been working the last couple of years,” said Park. “I felt like I was hitting the ball just fine, just like (when) I’ve won before, just like when I was hitting in 2013/14 when I was winning majors. Just the putter was different. So, I was just trying to get that putter back. This week has been a really great putting week.”

CME GROUP CARES CHALLENGE – SCORE 1 FOR ST. JUDE

The CME Group Cares Challenge is a season-long charitable giving program that turns aces into donations. CME Group donated $20,000 for each hole-in-one made on the LPGA Tour in 2019, with a minimum guaranteed donation of $500,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which is leading the way in how the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

In Friday’s second round, Mel Reid made the fourth hole-in-one of the 2020 LPGA Tour season, acing the 172-yard 12th hole with a 6-iron. It was her eighth career hole-in-one and fifth in a competitive round, and it brought the season total to $80,000 donated.

The 2019 LPGA Tour season saw 32 aces from 31 different players, for a total of $620,000 donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This more than covers the average cost of $425,000 needed to treat a pediatric cancer patient.

LEADERS TOP 10 COMPETITION

For the third consecutive year, the LEADERS Top 10 competition will award $100,000 to the player with the most top-10 finishes prior to the CME Group Tour Championship, with Ariya Jutanugarn (2018) and Jin Young Ko (2019) earning the first two awards.

In the event of a tie in total top-10 finishes, the award will go to the player with the most official wins, followed by most second-place finishes, third-place finishes, etc., until the tie is broken.

Through the first four events of the LPGA Tour season, Celine Boutier leads the competition with three top-10s, followed by Nasa Hataoka, Christina Kim, Sei Young Kim and Inbee Park with two apiece.

PLAYER NOTES
Rolex Rankings No. 17 Inbee Park (67-69-68-74)

Hit 13 of 15 fairways and 11 of 18 greens, with 30 putts
Park is in her 14th season on the LPGA Tour; she has 20 career victories, including seven majors
She is competing in her second ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open; she missed the cut in 2012
This is her fourth event of the 2020 LPGA Tour season; she tied for second at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, where she lost in a playoff
Park won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics

SOCIAL MEDIA

Tournament: @WomensAusOpen (Twitter and Instagram), #WomensAusOpen

LPGA: @LPGA, @LPGAMedia (Twitter), @lpga_tour (Instagram)

Cristie Kerr still has a taste for the game

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