San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Korda, Salas pull away, are set to duel for their first major
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Lizette Salas spent much of her time Saturday looking at Nelly Korda ahead of her in the Women’s PGA Championship.
In the fairway, not on the leaderboard.
Korda blasted a drive on the opening hole at Atlanta Athletic Club and hit 9iron to 4 feet. Salas hit 7wood to the middle of the green and holed a 45foot birdie putt to match her.
It was like that throughout the front nine, where Salas turned a oneshot deficit into a twoshot lead until Korda caught up to her on the back nine. Salas had a third straight 5underpar 67. Korda shot 68.
They were tied for the lead at 15under 201, five shots clear of anyone else.
“Lizette was rolling in some nice ones today and I told myself, ‘I’ve got to hit it close to even keep up with her,’ ” Korda said. “When you get into that mindset of kind of egging each other on, it’s fun, but it’s also nerveracking.”
Two very different games ultimately led to the same score after three rounds. The commonality is both will be chasing their first major title Sunday.
At stake for Korda is a chance to reach No. 1 in the world.
Salas, who began the week by sharing her emotional struggles of coping with the COVID19 pandemic, relied on precision and big putts to make up for a big power gap against Korda. Salas was close to flawless on the front nine with a 30 until her first bogey of the tournament on No. 10 slowed her momentum.
Korda, the 22yearold coming off a victory last weekend on the LPGA Tour, played bogey
Sunday’s round
Noon !38 free but failed to use her length to capitalize on the par 5s on the back nine.
“Knowing that I’m not the longest hitter, I think I’m used to that,” Salas said. “I think I’m just so comfortable in saying, ‘You know what? I’m going to hit first,’ and knowing my game. … Let’s just play boring golf and let’s give ourselves good looks at birdie.”
They were five shots ahead of a trio that includes Patty Tavatanakit (65), the Thai player who won the first LPGA Tour major of the year at the ANA Inspiration. Joining her were Giulia Molinaro (66) and Celine Boutier (69), who had a 69 while playing in the final group with the coleaders.
Salas began her round by holing that 45foot putt across the green. After a wedge to 3 feet for a birdie on the par5 second, she drained a 35foot birdie putt on No. 3. Korda was constantly some 35 yards beyond her off the tee, hitting short irons when Salas was hitting hybrids and fairway metals.
No matter. The 31yearold Southern Californian couldn’t miss. She brought a U.S. Open game — fairways and greens, nothing fancy — to the Women’s PGA and it worked.
After 45 holes without a bogey to start this major, Salas caught a tough lie on the edge of a fairway bunker on the 10th. Korda caught her with a birdie on the 13th, and they both made pars coming in.