Ko tees up final crack at history
Lydia Ko will only have one thing on her mind as she attempts for the final time to be the youngest player to win a women’s golf major – concentrating on her own game.
Ko moved her way up the leaderboard with a four-under 67 in the third round of the Evian Championship in France yesterday, getting within two strokes of leader South Korean Mi Hyang Lee.
The 18-year-old world No 2 will join Lee, the 2014 New Zealand Women’s Open champion at Clearwater in Christchurch, and American Lexi Thompson were the last to tee off in the fourth round at Evian-les-Bains last night.
Lee leads at 10-under, with Thompson on nine-under and Ko and American Morgan Pressel tied for third at eight-under.
Lee has form in final rounds against Ko, too. At the 2014 New Zealand Women’s Open, the South Korean shot a scintillating nineunder 63 to pip the hometown favourite in Christchurch and score a breakthrough win. It was a course record till Ko smashed it with an 11-under 61 at the 2015 edition, which she won.
It promised to be an intriguing final day shootout as Ko chases history and Pressel, whose record she is trying to break, also loomed large in calculations.
Ko is the youngest winner of a professional tournament, Ladies European Tour tournament and LPGA Tour tournament, but Pressel’s major mark has eluded her so far. The American was 18 years 10 months and nine days old when she won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship. The next major after the Evian is the ANA Inspiration in April, when Ko will be approaching 19 and a shot at the record will have gone.
Ko, who started the third round five strokes off the lead, carded a bogey-free three-under 32 on the front-nine, then went one-under on the back to get to eight-under.
Her 67 was only bettered by Thompson’s 66 on a tough day where rain played a significant part. For the third straight day, the Kiwi No 1 bogeyed the par-four 18th – the only negative in a satisfying round. She is the only player in the field to have shot three successive rounds in the 60s, though.
Ko said she won’t be thinking of records when she tees off on Sunday night.
‘‘Not at all. Morgan’s record is pretty amazing, and for her to do it at 18 years, I don’t know exactly how old, but it’s really hard to do. Winning a major at any age is pretty hard, and for her to do that at the ANA, I think is pretty amazing,’’ Ko said.
The Kiwi teen said she won’t be focusing on what the players around her are doing, either.
‘‘I don’t know what the leader is going to finish. But I think there are holes where you can make some good birdies out there, so I’ve just got to play my own game.
‘‘You can see by everybody else that everybody’s making a lot of birdies. Sometimes you just miss the fairway and you can get some stingy lies in the rough too. I think it all depends. But all I’ve got to do is concentrate on my game. That’s all I can do.’’
Ko hit 11-of-13 fairways and 15-of-18 greens in regulation, while only needed 30 putts in her third round.
The 18-year-old posted birdies at the par-three second, par-three eighth and par-five ninth holes to storm into contention.
With two more birdies at the par-four 12th and par-five 13th, Ko got to nine-under and a brief share of the lead.
‘‘Overall I played really solid,’’ she said.
‘‘Got in some positions off the green (but) I was able to make upand-downs, and I just gave myself a lot of opportunities today, and that’s what you’ve got to do.’’
Lee (70) was paired with Pressel (71), and they went toe-to-toe until the par-four 18th hole, when the American double-bogeyed after landing her second shot in water.