Koerstz Madsen gifted a three-shot lead
Nanna Koerstz Madsen was tied for the lead in the JTBC Classic when she teed off Saturday on the par-four 18th. She two-putted for par and a three-under 69 — and walked off with an unexpected three-stroke lead over Na Rin An.
Coming off a breakthrough victory two weeks ago in Thailand that made her the LPGA Tour’s first Danish champion, Koerstz Madsen took advantage of An’s closing triple bogey to pull away at Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad.
“I do think it’ll be easier going into tomorrow with a lead than it was in Thailand,” Koerstz Madsen said. “You still have all excitement in your body that you got to control tomorrow. Three can change over two holes. I still have to do my stuff.”
An, the South Korean rookie who earned tour membership as the LPGA Q-Series medalist, eagled the short par-four 16th and birdied the par-five 17th to tie Koerstz Madsen for the lead.
But on the 18th, trying to hit off the cart path near the green, An fired the ball low into the path curb, sending it bounding down the path. She was able to hit her next shot off the path onto the edge of the green and made a seven for a 69.
“It is what it is,” An said. “I was thinking of how best to finish the hole with the lowest score possible.”
Said Koerstz Madsen: “I’ve been there many times.”
Koerstz Madsen rebounded after a threestroke meltdown of her own when she bogeyed the parfour seventh and made a double bogey on the par-five eighth. She steadied herself quickly, making a birdie on the par-four ninth and parfive 10th.
“It does tell me that I’ve come a long way,” Koerstz Madsen said. “Normally, I probably would’ve freaked out after that 8. I was not happy with my double bogey on 8, but I knew there was a lot of chances out there.”
Koerstz Madsen had a 14under 202 total in the final event before the first major of the season next week at
Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage.
Elsewhere
Three down on the 15th tee, Kevin Kisner won the next four holes to beat Adam Scott in the fourth round of the Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas. In the quarterfinals, he was 3 up on Will Zalatoris after four holes and never trailed in a 4and-3 victory . ... Ben Martin shot a two-under 70 to hold on to a two-shot lead in the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic.