Pettersen, Park lead field for Women’s PGA Championship

NEW YORK — Suzann Pettersen is coming off a win at last weekend’s Manulife LPGA Classic in Cambridge, Ont., with new coach Butch Harmon and looking for her third major title at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

She’ll be paired with two-time defending champion Inbee Park and Lexi Thompson on Thursday at the Westchester Country Club. The tournament, run by the PGA of America for the first time, is the second of the LPGA Tour’s five major championships.

Pettersen, who birdied the 17th hole Sunday to clinch her 15th LPGA Tour victory by one stroke, appreciates Harmon’s coaching style. “He’s very current. He works with the best male players in the world,” Pettersen said. “They all have different skills. I got to play a round of golf with Phil Mickelson, which was very inspirational for me.”

Park has had a strong start this season and can return to No. 1 in the world if she wins this week. The South Korean is second on the tour in putting and leads in most rounds under par and top 10 finishes.

“You have to be accurate with the irons, and you have to putt really well,” Park said of the West Course. “It’s very slopey greens. You’ve really got to be careful.”

Top-ranked teenager Lydia Ko has won five times on the LPGA Tour as a pro, two as an amateur. But the 18-year-old from New Zealand has struggled this season and finished 27th on Sunday.

Thompson, one of the longest hitters on the tour, said the 6,670yard, par-73 course will be a challenge. “I’m definitely going to be bombing driver out there,” said the 20-year-old Thompson, who won her first major at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship.