Ko left treading water
Lydia Ko preferred to look internally as she pondered whether she was still in contention at the New Zealand Women’s Open.
The Kiwi star’s title hopes were left hanging by a thread after a third round of missed opportunities on moving day at the first LPGA Tour event on these shores.
Starting yesterday eight shots off the lead, the tournament host and top-ranked player could manage only a two-under-par 70.
It left the 20-year-old in a tie for 11th at eight-under at the Windross Farm course near Auckland, still trailing leader Belen Mozo by seven.
Despite having so much ground to make up, Ko indicated her thoughts today would not likely extend to her producing a miraculous final round to win her national open for a fourth time.
‘‘I just have to play my own game tomorrow,’’ the world No 8 said after an effort including three birdies and one bogey.
‘‘I heard it could be pretty different conditions. I just have to stay patient and on a course like this it’s so open and when the wind starts picking up it’s not going to be easy. ‘‘I’ve just got to focus on me.’’ It was a statement hard to disagree with when you factored in those conditions Ko referred to.
Such were the nature of the rain and strong winds forecast for the final day, tournament organisers have opted to shift tee times forward and split the field into a twotee start.
Asked what was most important if the forecast was correct for the links-style layout so exposed to the elements, Ko said it came down to the club that she had struggled to find the zone with for the majority of this week.
‘‘If the wind blows you’ll obviously need to drive well, hit a lot of solid shots and be creative at times.
‘‘But putting is going to be the key, if you miss a green you’re trying to make a putt for par or if you get a birdie opportunity you’ve got to try and grab it.
‘‘If the weather is like the forecast it’s going to be a grind but you just have to stay with it and focus on the shot in front of you.’’ Ko needed a positive start and got it, draining a 15-foot birdie putt at the par-four first hole to the delight of another strong gallery.
Unfortunately for those hoards of Kiwi fans, though, it wasn’t necessarily a sign of what was to come.
She was unable to join the collection of players birdying the par-five second, while five more pars followed as the 14-time LPGA tournament winner was either unable to get makeable birdie putts to drop or fine tune that potentially razorsharp radar on her approaches.
Ko’s frustration levels then likely took a mild spike at the par-four I just tried to grind it out, stay patient. I started with a bang and finished with a bang, I’ll take that. Lydia Ko eighth when she dropped a shot back to six-under.
If the usually unflappable Kiwi was rattled, she wasn’t showing it and in a flash she had that shot back, making no mistake with her birdie try at nine to make the turn in one-under 35. But, as was the case over her opening two rounds, the event favourite simply wasn’t able to find the rhythm she needed to make a run and more pars were the only thing flowing.
At the par-five 14th there was finally a rare show of emotion, Ko slapping her wedge into the turf in disappointment as a chip came up shorter than its intended destination. Another failed conversion with the flat stick followed at 15.
Sinking a birdie putt of around 10 feet at the last was a positive way to walk off 18 but it didn’t mean an uphill task wasn’t at hand to lift the silverware.
‘‘The front nine was pretty calm and then progressively through the back nine it started picking up,’’ Ko said. ‘‘It was pretty tough playing into that. I just tried to grind it out, stay patient. I started with a bang and finished with a bang, I’ll take that.’’ Meanwhile, Kiwi golf fans have voted with their feet at the inaugural LPGA-sanctioned New Zealand Women’s Open at Windross Farm, leaving visiting tour bosses beaming with satisfaction.
After crowds through the first two days that had the New Zealand event on a par with anything seen on the LPGA Tour this year, and player feedback almost entirely positive, early assessments for the event were off-the-charts positive.
Sean Pyun, vice-president and managing director of LPGA Asia, said the outstanding galleries through the first half and into yesterday had left tour officials flabbergasted at the response from the Kiwi golfing fraternity.
‘‘I have been to about 15 events this year and I have to say that the Thursday-Friday may have been the biggest crowd of the LPGA events this year, and if not the biggest certainly one of the biggest,’’ Pyun said. ‘‘We have been blown away by that.
‘‘It tells us there’s a great market for women’s golf here and, with what Lydia [Ko] is doing, hopefully we’ll be here for a very long time.’’ – with Marc Hinton