Off the pace: Kofalters in third round of PGA
Lydia Ko won’t need telling where it went wrong when she looks back at her disappointing third round of the PGA Championship in Illinois.
Ko, who went into the day two shots off the lead at the Kemper Lakes, carded a one-over 73 to drop to three-under par, eight shots behind South Korean leader So Yeon Ryu heading into today’s final round.
The 21-year-old Kiwi found just seven of 18 greens in regulation, battling for any sort of consistency with her irons the day after she fired a scorching six under 66.
She turned in 35, mixing two birdies with a bogey on the front line, and was just three shots off the pace after she birdied the par-five 11th.
But things took a turn for the worse the following hole, an ugly double-bogey on the par-four 12th, before she bogeyed the 16th.
It leaves Ko tied for 10th, and needing a miracle if she’s to challenge for her third major title.
Speaking of third major championships, Ryu will take a two-stroke lead into the final round after clearing away from joint overnight leader Brooke Henderson with a sublime back nine.
Ryu, who won the second of her majors when she claimed the ANA Inspiration tournament last year, improved to 11-under after her fiveunder 67, which included four birdies on the way in.
She mixed a combination of excellent approach shots and well-judged putts as she made her charge, hitting the front on her own after playing partner Henderson bogeyed the 14th.
Henderson, who won the PGA Championship in 2016, had been in control up until then, but further faltered after bogeying the 16th, the first hole of ‘‘The Gauntlet’’.
Ryu got hot after completing a quality up-and-down on the par five 11th, hitting out of the bunker, before holing a lengthy birdie putt.
In contrast to Ko, Ryu found 14 of 18 greens in regulation.
Fellow countrywoman Sung Hyun Park, who is nicknamed ‘‘Tiger’’, is one shot behind Henderson and also right in the thick of the action.