Shin, Szeryk, Jutanugarn share lead at Superstition Mountain
Jenny Shin of South Korea had a run of five straight birdies to close out her front nine on the way to a 5-under 67 on Friday and shared the lead with Maddie Szeryk of Canada and Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand after two rounds of the LPGA Drive on Championship.
Whoa, Nelly! Korda makes it 2 straight wins for her family
Nelly Korda followed in big sister's footsteps with a three-shot victory that looked easier than it felt. โYeah, Jess' win, I was like, โOK, I got to get one now,โ" Korda said. But it's nice to get back-to-back Korda wins now.โMore than just matching her sister, Korda won for the first time on American soil. Sorenstam finished 29 shots behind Korda, who won by three over Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko. Korda made sure of that with a steady diet of pars and picking up enough birdies when she needed them.
Nelly Korda leads LPGA as Sorenstam falls to bottom of pack
Sorenstam, playing for the first time in more than 12 years after retiring, had no expectations and no excuses. That put her in last place by four shots, 22 shots behind Korda. โAny time you can get ahead of the pack going into Sunday is a positive,โ Korda said. Not going to lie, coming down the stretch, those putts were a little shaky.โBut she made them, and she's in great position going for her first LPGA Tour victory. โNormally, I hit the ball straight, and today was everything but straight,โ Sorenstam said.
Column: Back in time on LPGA for Sorenstam and Yani Tseng
The surprise decision was still fresh three weeks later when 19-year-old Yani Tseng won her first major. Sorenstam turned 50 in October and has not competed on the LPGA Tour since the final event of 2008. She also played the LPGA Tour season opener last month, although Sorenstam was part of the celebrity division. When she won the Kia Classic in March 2012 for her 15th LPGA Tour title, she was four points short of the LPGA Hall of Fame. Tseng played five times over the second half of 2020 on the Taiwan LPGA, missing one cut and failing to finish in the top 25.
PGA Tour's top 2 rules officials retiring after long careers
Whiteโs father was a stickler for the rules, and White thought he knew them well when he decided to join the PGA Tour. His most memorable ruling was among the more famous on the PGA Tour. Also, Mike Peterson, Pete Lis and Jordan Harris are moving from the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA Tour as rules officials. The tour said that became the top-performing tweet for the PGA Tour, also surpassing the Masters graphic. Im then finished out his year by flying to Dubai for the DP World Tour Championship on the European Tour.
A Lim Kim wins US Women's Open debut with record-tying rally
A Lim Kim, of South Korea, kisses the championship trophy after winning the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in Houston. The U.S. Women's Open, with its reputation as the toughest test, was a major she had never played. No one had ever started in a position that far back and won the U.S. Women's Open. The cold weather, the mud-splotched golf balls and the U.S. Women's Open test helped keep her mind from wandering. A two-time winner on the Korean LPGA, Kim got into the U.S. Women's Open off the world ranking when the pandemic kept the USGA from conducting open qualifying.
Shibuno passes big test and hangs on to lead in Women's Open
Hinako Shibuno, of Japan, fist bumbs fellow players after her round of golf during the third round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, in Houston. Nothing about this U.S. Women's Open felt normal until Saturday. That's when it became a grind that for so many years has defined this biggest event in women's golf. The others were In Gee Chun (2015 U.S. Women's Open and 2016 Evian Championship and Se Ri Pak, who won the LPGA Championship and U.S. Women's Open in 1998. Shibuno won the Women's British Open last year at Woburn, and declined to take up LPGA membership because she didn't think she was ready.
No longer a surprise, Shibuno leads by 3 at US Women's Open
Hinako Shibuno, of Japan, smiles after putting on the 17th green during the second round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament in Houston, Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. That was bright as ever Friday as the Japanese star posted a 4-under 67 and opened a three-shot lead going into the weekend of the U.S. Women's Open. She looked the part of a major champion at the U.S. Women's Open, where the forecast of rain and strong wind never quite materialized. The USGA used two courses for the first time because the pandemic forced the Women's Open to be postponed six months to December with limited daylight. Kerr played bogey-free at Jackrabbit and shot 69, and the 43-year-old former Open champion says the injury at least has tempered her expectation.
Olson comes up aces and takes 1-shot lead in Women's Open
Amy Olson watches her shot off the third tee during the first round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament in Houston, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. For the first time, two courses are being used for the opening rounds because of the limited daylight by postponing the premier event in women's golf to December. She figured it would be a long shot to be in the U.S. Women's Open this year when the USGA had to scrap qualifying because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And then when golf resumed, Popov earned a spot in the Women's British Open and won at Royal Troon. And now she's already in the mix at the U.S. Women's Open, along with so many others.
Sophia Popov shoots 64 to lead Pelican Womenโs Championship
Haley Moore tees off on the first hole during the first round of the LPGA Pelican Women's Championship golf tournament Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in Belleair, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)BELLEAIR, Fla. โ Women's British Open winner Sophia Popov left top-ranked playing partner Jin Young Ko and everyone else behind Thursday in the Pelican Womenโs Championship. Popov shot a 6-under 64 in windy conditions to take a two-stroke lead over Ashleigh Buhai, with Ko eight shots behind after a 72 in her first LPGA Tour start of the year. Ally McDonald, playing alongside Popov and Ko in an afternoon threesome, was at 67 with Womenโs PGA champion Sei Young Kim, the No. U.S. Womenโs Open champion Jeongeun Lee6, also making her return to the LPGA Tour, had a double bogey and two bogeys in a 73. She last played the Womenโs Australian Open in February before the tour began shutting down its Asia swing because of the pandemic.
Mel Reid hopes to keep the party going at Women's PGA
Reid, a 33-year-old from England, is among the contenders to win the Womenโs PGA Championship at Aronimink. This is where Gary Player won his first PGA Championship in 1962, by one shot over Bob Goalby. Reid is a six-time winner on the Ladies European Tour but she was more than overdue for an LPGA Tour title. Last year, Hannah Green used a steely performance down the stretch at Hazeltine to make the Women's PGA her first career victory. She hopes to use the lessons learned there to be able to secure a second straight major championship.
Mirim Lee wins a stunner in a playoff at the ANA Inspiration
Mirim Lee, of South Korea, receives the championship trophy after winning the LPGA's ANA Inspiration golf tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Sunday Sept. 13, 2020. How she even got to that point as the ANA Inspiration champion was shocking even to Lee. That got her into a three-way playoff, and Lee ended it quickly. Asked on television off the 18th green if she was in disbelief, Lee was too busy wiping away tears to answer, so the translator finally offered, โYes.โSo was everyone. Lee chipped in for birdie on No.
Final birdie gives Nelly Korda a 1-shot lead in LPGA major
That set her up for a wedge to 3 feet below the hole for birdie and a 6-under 66, giving her a one-shot lead. Two-time major champion In Gee Chun had to scramble for par on the 18th for a 67. 1 in the world with a victory at Mission Hills, and Brooke Henderson of Canada were among those two shots behind. It was still exhausting for Korda, who described her start as "good, but tired, for sure.โImagine how her father felt. That got the attention of the golfing sisters, with Nelly rushing home from Arkansas last week to watch on TV.
Mission Hills familiar place in an familiar spot on schedule
Lewis is one of the past champions playing this week in the ANA Inspiration in California. Ko, who has played three times on the Korean LPGA this year, likely wont see an LPGA event his year. The ANA Inspiration presents an opportunity for Nelly Korda, who reached No. 2 and looking for her second majorKang has experience on Mission Hills that dates to her junior days, including one she thought she was going to win. This is her first LPGA event since November, and only her second event this year she played once on the Korean LPGA.
Danielle Kang wins at Inverness in LPGA return to golf
Danielle Kang follows through on her drive on the fourth hole during the third and final round of the LPGA Drive On Championship golf tournament Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020, at Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)TOLEDO, Ohio Danielle Kang was away from the LPGA Tour for six months during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is not to suggest she was without competition. It paid off Sunday when Kang closed with a 2-under 70 and held on for a one-shot victory over Celine Boutier in the LPGA Drive On Championship at Inverness, the first LPGA Tour event since February. I made sure I played golf as much as I did normally, not because I had to but because I wanted to, Kang said. The LPGA Tour stays in northeast Ohio next week for the Marathon Classic.
LPGA returns with Kang posting 66 at Inverness for the lead
Danielle Kang hits her tee-shot on the eighth hole during the first round of the LPGA Drive On Championship golf tournament at Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio, Friday, July 31, 2020. Kang finished in the early lead at six-under par. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
LPGA returns with Kang posting 66 at Inverness for the lead
Danielle Kang hits her tee-shot on the eighth hole during the first round of the LPGA Drive On Championship golf tournament at Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio, Friday, July 31, 2020. The LPGA Tours much-awaited return from the COVID-19 pandemic brought an immediate sense of its new world. The LPGA Tour remains in northeast Ohio next week before heading to Scotland. The lone Korean among the top 10 -- a rarity given the countrys strength in womens golf -- was Hee Young Park at 70. Definitely had a really good attitude, and it was really fun to be back.The LPGA Tour is not allowing spectators, though that wasnt a problem for Kang.
LPGA finale a sprint toward a $1.5 million prize
NAPLES, FL โ Jin Young Ko won twice as many tournaments as anyone else on the LPGA Tour this year. And with $1.5 million available to the winner in the season finale, none of that matters. โHopefully getting better, but then this week is the last, so it will be fine.โItโs a conclusion unlike any other in the LPGA Tour. And she still has the inside track to the LPGA money title. Nelly Korda, one of seven players with multiple victories this year, summed up the chase for the $1.5 million prize in the simplest of terms.