Ko well placed for top 10
Kiwi six shots off lead when lightning stops play during third round of major
Lydia Ko is well placed for a top-10 finish at the year’s first major but would need something special over her final 22 holes to challenge for the title. The Kiwi was one of 11 golfers tied for ninth on five under when play was suspended at the Chevron Championship because of lightning in the area.
Fourteen holes into her third round, Ko was on one under for the day, recording three birdies and two bogeys to trail leader Atthaya Thitikul by six shots.
Nelly Korda was one shot off the lead when play at Carlton Woods in Texas was halted just before 3pm and called for the day two-anda-half hours later with dangerous conditions remaining.
The third round of the LPGA’s first major of the season was set to resume Sunday morning local time, with the final round scheduled to start just before 9.30am.
Korda, who is trying to tie an LPGA Tour record with her fifth straight victory, was three-under 41 through 11 holes in the third round and 10 under overall. She started the third round one shot off the lead after posting a seven-under 137 through the first half of the tournament.
The top-ranked Korda is seeking her second major after winning the Women’s PGA Championship in 2021. She could join Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA events.
Korda was asked about the challenges of having to finish the third round before playing the final round.
“I think you just have to try to be positive about it and just tell yourself that you can’t get caught up in possibly girls being on 18 or not having that many holes left,” she said.
“If you think about it positively, then I have a lot of opportunities left in the day that I can go out and maybe capitalise on a couple of them, then that’s good. But I’m going to think about it positively rather than negatively.”
Canadian Brooke Henderson, who was at two-under 142 through two rounds, rocketed up the leaderboard and into a tie with Korda for second by shooting an eight-under 59 through 17 holes.
“It was on six when I made that par save,” Henderson said. “It really kept my round alive, and then from there, I was able to get things going. It was really fun to kind of get on a bit of a run. I feel like this year I’ve just played pretty solid but I haven’t really seen that run and kind of had that excitement. That was really fun for me and hopefully just do something similar [today].”
Henderson, who has 13 LPGA wins with two majors, had a one-putt streak of 10 with six birdies and an eagle in that stretch.
“Any time my putter gets to working, I’m pretty happy because ballstriking is usually a strength of mine. This week I’ve been hitting it really well, so when I’ve been able to make a few putts, it feels really good, and hopefully keep it hot [today].”
Thitikul had the lead at 11 under and was through 12 holes when play was suspended. She started the round tied with Jin Hee Im for the lead with a 136 in the first two rounds.
Thitikul, a 21-year-old from Thailand who has won twice on the LPGA Tour and missed the beginning of this season with a thumb injury, was asked about how she expects the normally firm greens to play today, as rain was expected to continue overnight.
“The greens are going to play a little bit easier, but the drives, other things may be harder,” she said. “I don’t know what it’s going to be like because some holes, we have the wind, and it’s helped. Maybe you have a bunker on the way and then you can get over it. But if it’s soft and kind of like not dry, then maybe you couldn’t get over some holes.”
Im was in fourth place at nine under Saturday through 11 holes.