Saso battles back in cold wind; Ko regains solo lead

MANILA, Philippines — Yuka Saso can’t remember the last time she had played in cold wind but recalls her inspiring finish that put her back into the thick of things in the Gainbridge LPGA heading to thrills and chills ending.

“My last hole,” said Saso when asked of the highlight of her third round play where she salvaged an even par 72 on two late birdies, including on No. 18.

“My second shot and last putt were pretty good. I was around 150 yards, I hit an 8-iron and then I had like 20 feet.”

The last birdie capped Saso’s gutsy stand in blustery conditions and big recovery from a couple of errant shots and a two-over card as she remained at fourth, still four strokes behind a determined Lydia Ko.

Ko cashed in on a two-shot swing on the par-5 No. 10 (birdie-bogey) to draw level again with Danielle Kang then regained the solo lead with a 72 as her halfway co-leader virtually froze and played stiff and fumbled with bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15 for a 74.

That enabled the Kiwi to get back into the position as she was in the first round – two strokes clear of the American (205-207) with French Celine Boutier making it a three-way battle with a 208 after producing a solid 69 that stood out in exacting conditions at Boca Rio in Florida.

No, make it four or five as England’s Charley Hull fired a second straight 71 to tie Saso at fourth at 209, four strokes behind but still very much in the hunt given the frigid, windy conditions where the surviving 74-player field scrambled while trying to adjust their club selection and ball striking.

The temperatures went to the high 40s that topped out in the mid-50s and the wind of 15 to 20 mph sustained its gusts up to 33 mph, thus disfiguring the low scoring pattern that highlighted the first two days of the $2 million championship.

“We knew it’s gonna be windy but not this much,” said Saso, who got into the groove with a birdie on the first hole but yielded strokes on Nos. 2 and 5 as the breeze began to whip from all over that saw flagsticks bend in the wind on most holes.

“But it was fun, it was different golf but I really learned a lot and it’s good,” said the ICTSI-backed ace, who also bogeyed No. 10 but gained a stroke on the 12th then holed out with another birdie on the difficult finishing hole off a superb 8-iron iron shot from 150 yards and a spectacular birdie putt from 20 feet.

“I hit some really good low shots but I also missed some,” added Saso, who missed five fairways and seven greens, including three off the bunkers that led to her three bogeys.

The third round average score was 75.1, 4.6 strokes more than the first round and three shots worse than Friday with only five players going under-par Saturday, led by Boutier, who birdied Nos. 1, 12 and 16 to earn a spot in the championship group.

Nasa Hataoka, whom Saso nipped on the third extra hole to claim the US Women’s Open crown last June, bounced back from a frontside 39 with two backside birdies, her 73 putting her at solo sixth with 211 while rookie Ayaka Furue, also of Japan, bucked the tough conditions and fired a 71 for joint seventh at 212 with American Stacy Lewis and Korean Hye Jin Choi, who shot a 72 and 73, respectively.

Lexi Thompson and In Gee Chun, who groped for 73s; Patty Tavatanakit, Brooke Henderson and Maude-Aimee Leblanc, who struggled with 74s, and Jodi Shadoff, who skied to 76, were in the hunt after 36 holes but faded with identical 213s for a share of 10th, eight shots off Ko.

“Going into the third round, I knew that it was going to be pretty difficult,” said Ko, who had a one-bogey, one-birdie card in the first 10 holes against a run of pars. “Playing in the wind, any sort of temperature, makes it a lot tougher, and I knew that today was going to be a little bit more of a grind.. You have to be more focused and move on when you do make mistakes.”

She missed seven fairways and four greens and got back into the lead despite 31 putts.

Despite a late foldup, Kang remained on course for a second straight victory after ruling the Tournament of Champions by three at Lake Nona last week.
“Trusting what I needed to do was really tough, My short game was great, hit to a lot of four-, five-footers but missed a lot of them,” said Kang. “But it’s okay, I’m proud that I just stayed in it and have a chance tomorrow (Sunday).”

With a forecast of another chilling, windy conditions Sunday, even those four and six strokes behind now have a shot at the crown.