Teen rookie Korda grabs two-shot lead
OHIO: US teen rookie Nelly Korda, the daughter of retired Czech tennis star Petr Korda, fired a five-under-par 66 to seize a two-stroke lead after Saturday’s third round of the LPGA Marathon Classic.
Korda, who turns 19 this Friday, birdied four of the first seven holes and closed with birdies at the par-five 17th and 18th to stand on 15-under 198 after 54 holes at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio.
“There’s still 18 more holes and a lot of golf left to be played, so I’m just going to stay patient and see how it goes,” Korda said.
“When you end on a birdie, you’re just really excited to play the next day and get it going, so I’m definitely excited.”
Korda, whose older sister Jessica is also on the circuit, is seeking her first LPGA title. The world No.87’s best finish in 14 LPGA starts this year was a share of fifth in January’s season-opening Bahamas LPGA Classic.
Starting the day one stroke off the lead after a second-round 64, Korda birdied the third hole and ran off three birdies in a row ending at the par-five seventh. She closed the front nine with her lone bogey but finished with back-to-back birdies to seize the lead.
Petr Korda reached as high as second in the world rankings and won the 1998 Australian Open title before retiring in 1999, while Jessica Korda, 24 and idle this week, has won four LPGA titles, most recently in Malaysia in 2015.
South Korea’s 28th-ranked Kim InKyung, who captured her fifth career LPGA title at last month’s ShopRite Classic, fired a 68 to stand second on 200.
Newly crowned US Women’s Open champion Park Sung-Hyun fired a 67 to finish in a pack sharing third on 201 that included India’s Aditi Ashok, Taiwan’s Chien Pei-Yun and Americans Gerina Piller, Sandra Changkija and Lexi Thompson.
Ashok, who added the tournament to her schedule at the last minute in a bid to qualify for the Women’s British Open in two weeks in Scotland, fired a 68.
Taiwanese rookie Chien, ranked 266th in the world, does not have a top-10 finish this season and has missed the cut in 10 of her 16 prior LPGA starts this year.
Piller, chasing her first LPGA title, fired a 70 to fall back.
LEADING THIRD ROUND SCORES
(USA unless noted, par-71)
198 — Nelly Korda 68-64-66
200 — Kim In-Kyung (KOR) 65-67-68
201 — Sandra Changkija (USA) 66-70-65, Park SungHyun (KOR) 64-70-67, Aditi Ashok (IND) 65-68-68, Chien Pei-Yun (TWN) 64-68-69, Gerina Piller 63-68-70, Lexi Thompson 67-65-69
202 — Brittany Lincicome 67-67-68
Selected scores
206 — Lydia Ko 73-68-65
207 — Thidapa Suwannapura (THA) 67-70-70, Pannarat Thanapolboonyaras (THA) 71-70-66