Lauren Walsh will have the opportunity to follow her maiden LPGA top-10 with another at this week’s Dow Championship as she and Celine Herbin – her playing partner in the two-person team event – share 13th place going into the final round of the Dow Championship.
After opening with a level-par round of 70 in Thursday’s foursomes, the pair combined to post a three-under 67 in fourball on Friday but lost ground, but the return to foursomes again for Saturday’s third round was welcomed and they made three birdies and two bogeys to climb 12 places on the leaderboard as one of only six teams to break par on the day.
Leona Maguire and Lindy Duncan were just one shot off the lead after the opening round, but could only add to their early two-under tally by one on Friday. They too welcomed the return to foursomes and managed to push their way to six-under for the tournament on three occasions but a costly bogey-double bogey finish saw them fall from a share of sixth and end the day in 20th place on -3.
Hyo Joo Kim and Hye-Jin Choi handled a swirling wind Saturday and made enough birdies to be among those six carding red-figured rounds, posting a one-under 69 in foursomes to build a one-shot lead in the Dow Championship.
Double major winner Nelly Korda and Olivia Cowan will need another big showing in Sunday fourballs if they want a chance to catch them. They made only one birdie, had bogey on both par-5s at Midland Country Club and shot 76 to fall six shots behind.
Korda and Cowan are alongside Walsh and Herbin tied for 13th. It will be only the second time this year on the LPGA that Korda is not in the final group.
Kim and Choi, the South Korean duo who are both among the top 20 in the women’s world ranking, sit one clear of Gina Kim and LPGA rookie Yana Wilson.
“The wind was obviously very strong today so that was a big factor that was different than the first round,” Hyo Joo Kim said. They also shot 69 in foursomes in the opening round.
Alison Lee and Lilia Vu, former teammates at UCLA, had the lead until they made a triple bogey on the 16th hole when Vu hit the tee shot out-of-bounds. They had to settle for a 69 and were in third place at 8-under 202.
“It’s a pretty meaty hole. I’ve been kind of leaking my drives out right so just wanted to make sure I had a draw but it was a pulled draw instead,” Vu said.
Juli Inkster, who at 66 became the oldest player in LPGA history to make the cut in an official event, teamed with Angel Yin for a 70. They were tied for 20th.
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