Korda, Salas pull away and share lead in Women’s PGA
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Lizette Salas spent much of her time Saturday looking at Nelly Korda ahead of her in the KPMG 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 9-iron to 4 feet. Salas hit 7-wood to the middle of the green and holed a 45-foot birdie putt to match her.
It was like that throughout the front nine, where Salas turned a one-shot deficit into a two-shot lead until Korda finally caught up to her on the back nine.
Salas had a third straight 5-under 67. Korda had a 68. They were tied for the lead at 15-under 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 nerve-racking.”
Two very different games ultimately led to the same score. The one commonality is both are chasing their first major championship Sunday.
At stake for Korda is a chance to reach No. 1 in the world.
Salas relied on precision and big putts to make up for a big power gap against Korda. She 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 22-year-old coming off a victory last week on the LPGA Tour, played bogey-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, the Thai star who won the first LPGA Tour major of the year at the ANA Inspiration. Tavatanakit ran off four straight birdies toward the end of her round for a 65.