Nordqvist, Pace share LPGA lead
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.— Anna Nordqvist and LeeAnne Pace each shot 8-under 64 on Saturday to share the third-round lead in the Meijer LPGA Classic.
Nordqvist and Pace each birdied four of the first five holes and two of the last three—each making 20-footers on the par-4 18th—in their bogey-free rounds. They were at 18-under 198 at Blythefield Country Club.
Nordqvist, from Sweden, has eight LPGA Tour victories, winning the Founders Cup and The Evian Championship last year.
“It just feels good playing good golf,” the 31-year-old Swede said. “I feel like I need to trust myself.”
She birdied the par-3 fourth hole with the tee moved back behind the river.
“It was playing 218 today and I had a 3-wood,” Nordqvist said. “I don’t get a lot of roll on my 3-wood, so I pitched in front of the green and it just rolled up perfect. So, it’s a tough hole, but I like the way LPGA challenges us.”
The 37-year-old Pace, from South Africa, won the 2014 Blue Bay LPGA in China for her lone LPGA Tour title. She has nine victories on the Ladies European Tour.
“I love this golf course,” Pace said. “It reminds me a lot of home, and I love shaping the course. It’s fast on the greens, and I was hitting my irons really, really well these first rounds.”
Pace has been having success with a new set of clubs.
“They’re really going straight at the moment, so that’s always nice when it’s always like that and you can just aim at the pin and then go for it,” she said.
Second-round leader So Yeon Ryu was third at 16 under after a 69. Angela Stanford (66) and Caroline Masson (68) were another stroke back. Ryu had six birdies, a double bogey and two bogeys.
“I have been struggling with my game, so I haven’t really been in contention,” the South Korean player said. “So, I’m not really kind of used to getting attention. I just tried to get used to it. I think I would be nervous the front nine. And then I think on the back nine, I just relaxed more, and then was thinking about my game instead of just the full field.”
Stanford had been bogeyfree this week before dropping a stroke on No. 10 on Saturday. She had seven birdies.