So here’s the final leaderboard. Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you again on Thursday for the first day of the Masters! Nighty night.
-10: Ko
-7: Lee
-6: Thompson
-5: Ciganda, IK Kim
-4: J Korda, Kang, Gillman, HJ Kim, McDonald, Lee6
Ko Jin-young was very much the worthy winner of the 2019 ANA Inspiration. Lee Mi-hyang, Lexi Thompson and Carlota Ciganda all asked a few questions to keep Ko on her toes, but the 23-year-old South Korean never looked like giving up her lead. The very minute Lee got close, Ko stepped on the accelerator and sped away again. Ko responded to a small wobble coming home by finishing with two birdies in the last three holes. That’s how you win a major. She was superb. And what a swing! Smooth enough to make Fred Couples look like Jim Furyk. But let’s spare a thought though for Kim In-kyung, who had hoped to banish the memory of that missed one-footer in 2012; she looked overcome by disappointment at the end. Another year, hopefully.
The leap into Poppie’s Pond! Ko, smiling broadly now as she settles into her role as golf’s newest major champion, soaks up the cheers of the crowd. She says she’s waited “five years” to make the leap ... and in she goes! Just before jumping in, Ko’s caddy asks how deep it is. He finds out soon enough. Ko splashes around awhile in glee - albeit still rather stunned at the scale of her achievement - before getting out and getting into her champion’s robe.
Ko Jin-young rolls in the birdie putt, and becomes the 2019 ANA Inspiration champion in style! She ends the week at -10, three clear of Lee Mi-hyang. Her first major title pocketed, she dissolves in tears of joy before being doused in water. Another dousing soon to come in Poppie’s Pond, but first she talks to NBC. “This will be a happy memory to me. Thank you to God, my parents and my grandfather.” More tears, Ko overcome with emotion. It’s a lovely moment. “It’s a great honour.” She goes off to check and sign her card, before taking the leap of her life into the famous pond!
Updated
Before Ko’s big moment, Kim gets her business out of the way. She ends a disappointing day with a similarly deflating par. The demons of 2012 have yet to be totally banished. It just wasn’t her day today, her struggles symbolised by that ball presumably still stuck up a tree at 11. Poor Kim looks emotionally drained, a chance spurned to rewrite the narrative of that infamous missed tiddler. But she’s a proven major winner, and she’ll come again.
Ko is 86 yards from the flag. Out comes the lob wedge. She sends her ball over the briny and screeching to a halt, pin high, 15 feet from the flag. She’ll have three putts for her first major championship!
Ko is taking no chances. She lays up instead of taking on the green in two. No need. An 8-iron sets up a short approach over the water. Up on the green, Lee can’t make her birdie putt, and any chance to put pressure on the leader is gone. Kang takes two putts for birdie, and signs for a disappointing final round of 73. She’s -4. Lee tidies up to secure second spot. Over to Ko, who just has to calmly close this out.
-9: Ko (17)
-7: Lee (F)
-6: Thompson (F)
Back on the tee, Ko has been made to wait while Lee searched out the officials. No matter. Still as calm as the water in Poppie’s Pond, she splits the fairway. Down the hole, Lee wedges in. It’s a decent shot, but not the wonderful one she desperately needs. She’ll have a birdie putt from 12 feet or so.
Lee’s ball has nestled near a sprinkler head, and it’s affecting her stance. So she’s waiting for a ruling. It eventually comes. She takes her knee-high drop. Then nearly sends her second into the big bunkers further down the hole, but the ball just about makes it over, and eventually finds the centre of the fairway. Perfect, after a fashion. Her partner Danielle Kang, who has had an otherwise miserable day, crashes her second into the heart of the green, the ball eventually stopping just off the back, from where she’ll have a look at eagle from 15 feet.
Ko’s faced with a glassy downhill putt, birdie far from a shoo-in. She tickles it down to the side of the hole, and knocks in the par putt. She’s so close to her first major now. Meanwhile up on the 18th green, Jeongeun Lee6 bumps in a chip from the back for eagle, and her fourth 71 of the week. That’s consistency, and the sixth Jeongeun Lee to play on the Korean Tour finishes the week at -4!
Ko is up next on 17. She goes straight for the flag, and lands her ball 15 feet to the right. A birdie chance from there. She’s simply refusing to buckle! Kim finds the green too, but having shoved her tee shot well to the right, a long two-putt awaits. Meanwhile on the 18th, Lee sends her tee shot towards the bunkers down the right. The ball stays out of the sand, but snags in thick rough. She won’t be reaching the green in two.
Lee opts to take the ridge out of the equation by chipping over it from the apron. But she can only clip the ball to six feet. The sort of putt she’d make more often than not, but these aren’t your usual circumstances. The pressure ratcheted up to 11, with Ko peering at her from a distance. And in goes the putt! That was immense. She walks off to the 18th, where she most likely needs to make birdie at least.
-9: Ko (16)
-7: Lee (17)
Yes. Ko tickles in a left-to-right slider, and it’s a superb birdie in the circumstances. Textbook, under the most extreme pressure. She’s -9. Two clear again, she moves to the 17th tee, where she watches her closest challenger up on the green. Lee really needs to get down in two here.
Lee has had a 15-minute wait on the 17th tee. I wonder what’s going through her mind? She aced this hole yesterday, and cavorted in a carefree manner. Her compatriot Kim Si-woo nearly recorded consecutive holes in one at the 16th at TPC San Antonio in the Valero Texas Open yesterday, pitching 12 inches from the flag a day after slam-dunking his tee shot straight in. But Lee isn’t getting anywhere near today. Her tee shot topples off the back of the green, and though she’ll be able to putt that one, there’s a big ridge to consider. It had just bunched up at the top. Could it be about to open out again?
Ko splits the 16th with yet another gorgeous drive. A 9-iron into the green. Straight at the flag. The ball threatens to come to a screeching halt just by the cup, but bounces maybe six feet past instead. But that’s a lovely nerve-settling shot. Could a lovely nerve-settling birdie be coming up?
Xiyu Lin of China hasn’t had the best of days. She’s three over for her round going up the last, and +1 overall. But she signs off with one of the shots of the week. She’s somehow found herself on the bridge crossing Poppie’s Pond. The pin is therefore tucked behind the bridge wall, and a nice ceramic plant pot. What on earth do you do? You bump the ball along the bridge, taking a left turn off the bank to the right of the green, and send it trickling down to a couple of feet! It’s an exquisitely judged and cleverly improvised chip that saves her par. What a way to go out! A huge smile plays across her face as the crowd go wild. That’s a moment to remember.
Ko’s splash from sand is a little underheated. Her ball stops a good 15 feet short of the flag. Plenty of work to do. And the putt slips by the right of the cup. Bogey. But she’s still got sole ownership of the lead, because Lee’s putt drifts away to the right just as it looked like it was ready to drop. Birdie for Kim at 15 meanwhile, her first of the day. It’d be a long shot, but she’s not quite out of this yet!
-8: Ko (15)
-7: Lee (16)
-6: Thompson (F)
-5: Ciganda (F), Kim (15)
Ko spends an age over club selection. She and her caddy appear to overthink it, resulting in her second slam-dunking in greenside sand. Meanwhile a hole ahead, Lee creams her second pin high, setting up a good look at birdie. Could this be a highly dramatic two-shot swing between these young South Korean stars?
Two fuss-free putts for Ko at 14. Par. Meanwhile Lee nearly rakes in a long birdie effort on 15, but settles for a par. Both smash their next drives down the middle. This is it now, the business end.
-9: Ko (14)
-7: Lee (15)
What were we worried about? Ko, who misclubbed on the 14th yesterday, slapping a wedge into the water, caresses an 8-iron pin high. She’ll have a look at birdie from 12 feet, and walks up to the green wearing a wide smile. But of course nothing’s certain yet. Leads at Mission Hills can disappear in short order: the aforementioned Ariya Jutanugarn, who bogeyed 16, 17 and 18 in 2016 to ship a lead in 2016, and Suzanne Pettersen, who bogeyed 15, doubled 16 and bogeyed 17 to lose the 2007 edition in heartbreaking style, having been four ahead with four to play.
Ko clips a crisp chip towards the cup. It looks perfect in flight, but hops on past the hole and nestles by the apron. Her putt coming back is decent, but always staying on the high side. A second bogey of the day, and a pretty unfortunate one, since her drive only just snagged into the thicker stuff with the help of a miserable bounce right. But this is around the time things started going a little wrong for her yesterday, with double on 14 and bogey at 15. This tee shot coming up at the short par-three 14th is a big one all right.
-9: Ko (13)
-7: Lee (14)
-6: Thompson (F)
If Ko’s going to open the door for anyone, it’ll have to happen soon. Could it happen here? Her second at 13, from the tight rough, squirts into more rough down the other side of the hole. That’ll be a tough up and down for par. Up on 14, Lee very nearly rolls a monster birdie effort across the par-three green and into the cup, but is happy enough to settle for par and remain at -7, three off the lead, alone in second.
BREAKING NEWS: Ko misses a fairway! That’s very uncharacteristic behaviour. Her tee shot at 13 finds the second cut down the right, though she’s only a couple of yards off target. She’s been driving so sensationally well, this comes as some surprise. Her swing is so smooth. To paraphrase the great Alistair Cooke in the Observer years ago, writing about Julius Boros, she swings so smoothly and calmly that you sometimes have to wonder whether anything’s just happened.
Short of 12 in two, Kim gets up and down well, but after those treetop shenanigans at the previous hole, her race is surely run. Her expression suggests she knows the jig is up. It’ll be heartbreaking if she never gets to right the wrongs of 2012. Maybe next year. Par for Ko. Lee is hanging in there, though, making her par putt at 13 to remain three off Ko’s lead. Meanwhile Ciganda can’t get anywhere near the hole with her long eagle effort at 18. Her second putt, from the fringe, is never dropping, and that’s a disappointing par at the end of a fine round of 68.
-10: Ko (12)
-7: Lee (13)
-6: Thompson (F)
-5: Ciganda (F)
-4: Gillman (F), Kim (12)
Ciganda needs a birdie at least at 18. She whips a 3-wood into the middle of the fairway, then sends another well left of the flagstick and off the back of the green. It’s in Lexi County. Two putts far from a formality. Lee attacks the flag at 13 but a hot bounce takes her into the thick stuff at the back of the green. She thins her chip a little and it’ll be a tester for par from ten feet. Ko meanwhile finds yet another green in regulation, sending an easy iron over the flag at 12, the ball spinning back to 25 feet. There only looks like one winner right now ... but you know what major-championship golf is like. The back nine on Sunday is where it all happens.
Kim is just off the back of 11, after crashing a fairway wood greenwards, then overcooking a wedge. She very nearly holes the chip coming back, but it’s just not her day. She looks utterly crestfallen as she walks off having made a double-bogey seven. Her playing partner Ko adds to her pain by making a fuss-free birdie. And if that’s not bad enough, Lee has birdied 12. It’s all gone horribly wrong for 2012’s nearly woman.
-10: Ko (11)
-7: Lee (12)
-6: Thompson (F)
-5: Ciganda (17)
-4: Gillman (F), Kang (12), Kim (11)
IK Kim’s challenge could be coming to a sorry, surreal end at 11. She sends her drive into trees down the right, then her escape hits some overhanging branches ... and snags in a spaghetti knot of twigs, refusing to drop out of the tree and down! It’s easy to identify her ball, a sky-blue heart drawn around the manufacturer Titleist’s name. It wasn’t the greatest of shots, but still, that is rotten luck. First that one-in-a-million yip in 2012, and now this karmic outrage. Poor Kim. You begin to think she’s simply destined never to win this thing. Par is already a pipe dream here.
Carlota Ciganda gets out of jail at the par-three 17th. At -5, she can’t afford any mistakes if she’s to post a score alongside Lexi Thompson, but takes a 9-iron instead of an 8-iron and comes up a full club short. Her long birdie putt isn’t all that, either, so she does very well to knock in the ten footer she leaves herself. A par, and what she’d pay for an eagle down the last.
Charley Hull finishes with a birdie, and signs for a fine last-day 70. She ends up at -3, still looking for that maiden major title. It’ll come. She’s the best of British this weekend, five shots better off than Jodi Ewart Shadoff (+2) and eight clear of the reigning British Open champion Georgia Hall (+5).
Another turn, and Ko’s birdie putt would drop. But it’s a couple of joules’ worth of energy short. No matter, she taps in for par, off the flagstick, and remains three clear of Thompson, Lee and Kim. If she closes this out, she’ll become the first winner of a major golf tournament to leave the flag in for all her putts. These new rules will become popular real fast.
Lexi Thompson can’t make the birdie putt. She overhits it, through the left-to-right break, and sends it four feet past. Oops. But she nails the one coming back. Brilliant under pressure, though that’s just a par to finish with. Such a fine final-round 67 by the 2014 champ, and she’s the new clubhouse leader, but she’ll be depending on JY Ko to crumble, and there haven’t been any signs of her feeling the pressure yet. She’s swinging so smoothly, it’s like she’s hardly disturbing any of the air. She gracefully fires her second into the heart of the 10th, and leaves herself an uphill birdie putt from 20 feet.
-9: Ko (9)
-6: Thompson (F), Kim (9), Lee (10)
-5: Cigunda (16)
-4: Gillman (F), J Korda (13)
A garden variety par for the leader Ko at 9. She had half a chance of birdie from 20 feet, but prodded at the putt with a little uncertainty. She turns in 35. Then up on 18, Thompson prowls around her monster eagle putt, a 70-footer out of the fringe, over a hump, and turning right towards the hole. The line’s judged perfectly, the pace not quite so. It’s a decent effort, but not brilliant, and she’s left with a ten-footer for a birdie that could make all sorts of difference if Ko hits some turbulence coming home.
Lexi Thompson goes for broke at 18. She booms her drive down the track, then takes out the fairway wood. She’s going for it, over the water, in the hope of setting up an eagle putt and putting a little pressure on the leader. Well, she creams it over the briny and into the heart of the green, but it’s nowhere near the flag, and in fact topples off into the fringe at the back. She’ll have a long look at eagle; more realistically, it’ll be two putts for birdie, a 66, and the clubhouse lead at -7. A big moment in this championship coming up right now!
A sensational par save on 9 by MH Lee. Having sent her drive into trees down the left of the par five, then hoicked her second into thick nonsense down the right, she did extremely well to find the back apron with her third. Then she left an awful first putt ten feet short ... before sinking the par saver. Ice in the veins. She turns in 35, and remains in a tie for second, three off the pace set by JY Ko at -6.
Jessica Korda finished fourth here last year, one shot out of the play-off. She’s struggled with a forearm injury since, but she’s working her way back into some serious form. Last month she was seven back at the Founders with eight holes to play. She couldn’t quite seal the deal, but second place, after making two eagles and a couple of birdies in a closing surge, gave notice of her return. She’ll need something similar today, but birdies at 9 and 11 have given her an outside chance at least. She’s -4.
Ciganda can’t make her birdie putt on 14. Par. Thompson comes close at 17, but that’s a par as well. Kim nearly drains a 35-footer on 8, but nothing’s happening for the 36-hole leader today. Par. And finally Ko takes centre stage ... pulling her par putt left. She’s still got a healthy lead, but that’ll give the chasing pack succour.
-9: Ko (8)
-6: Thompson (17), Kim (8), Lee (8)
-5: Ciganda (14)
And a big chip coming up for Ko, who makes her first mistake of the round. She sends her tee shot at the par-three 8th to 15 feet, but it nestles in that thick stuff that surrounds these greens. This is a delicate shot out of the cabbage. But she puts the wedge away and opts to putt instead. The long grass snags it up, and she only gets the ball halfway to the hole. A crack of light opening for the rest of the field?
Thompson needs a strong finish if she’s to seriously worry Ko. She whip-cracks a strong iron into the centre of the par-three 17th, pin high ... but the ball rolls back down a gentle slope and the birdie putt will be a good 30 footer. Ciganda sets herself up nicely at the par-four 14th, taking an aggressive line over water, with the pin tucked right by the side of the drink. A couple of big putts coming up.
-10: Ko (7)
-6: Thompson (16), Kim (7), Lee (8)
-5: Ciganda (13)
Ko hits a birdie putt that rolls as smoothly as her swing ... but somehow it doesn’t turn to the right when expected and stays stubbornly on the lip. She remains at -8. Her partner Kim is forced to guide in a tricky right-to-left par saver; she’s clinging on at the moment. Thompson makes yet another birdie, at 16, and she charges into a share of second at -6! And a fine par for Lee at the par-three 8th: having once again found thick stuff around the green, she flops delicately to 18 inches and cleans up. She remains in the group and second.
Lee’s fast start is compromised by one poor approach shot at 7. She sends it into thick cabbage to the right of the green; shortsided, it’s all she can do to hack out into the centre of the dancefloor. She can’t roll in the long par saver, and suddenly Ko has a four-shot lead. Also, coming in the group behind Lee, she’s just made the 7th green in regulation, setting up a birdie chance from 25 feet. Another birdie for Lexi, though, at 15. It’s her fourth in six holes, and the 2014 champ will at this rate set a clubhouse target that will give Ko pause for thought over the closing stretch.
-10: Ko (6)
-6: Lee (7), Kim (6)
-5: Thompson (15), Ciganda (12)
Ko hasn’t made a single three-putt all week. The leader nearly puts an end to that proud record by whistling a 30-footer five feet past the hole on 6, but she knocks the one coming back straight into the centre of the cup. She remains at -10, and looks as cool as ice right now. No mean feat given the mercury is pushing 90 at Mission Hills.
Ciganda can’t afford a single slip-up, so you can understand her relieved smile as she gets up and down from sand at 12. That’s a great street-fighting, momentum-retaining par. She remains at -5. The 2011 champ Stacy Lewis birdies 9, but she’s only turning in level-par 36, another birdie at 1 being cancelled out by a double bogey at 6. Meanwhile Danielle Kang, who tied for second last week on tour and has added considerable length to her game after sessions with Butch Harmon, is very much going the wrong way. A birdie at 2, but then a triple bogey at 3 and another dropped shot at 6. She’s -2, having pretty much played her way out of contention.
Ko was out in 31 yesterday, and she looks in the mood to turn the screw again. A second birdie of the day, this time at 5, and she moves three clear at the top. A reminder again that she gave up most of a five-shot lead over the back nine yesterday, the wind is picking up, and the nerves that come with chasing a maiden major will be soon kicking in. But it’s looking ominous for the rest of the field right now, as she finds the centre of the water-guarded 6th in two smooth strikes. Elsewhere, another birdie for Ciganda, this time at 11, while Thompson bogeys 12 then bounces back immediately with birdie at 13.
-10: Ko (5)
-7: Lee (5)
-6: Kim (5)
-5: Ciganda (11)
-4: Gillman (F), Thompson (14), Kirk (7), Sharp (6)
Ariya Jutanugarn came close to winning this title in 2016. But she shipped a two-shot lead by bogeying the final three holes, and ended up fourth, behind eventual winner Lydia Ko. A collapse not entirely dissimilar to the one suffered by Adam Scott at the 2012 Open ... and just as Scott banished some demons by winning the next edition of the Masters, Jutanugarn also bounced back in style. She won the 2016 British Open, and has since added a second major to her portfolio, last year’s US Open. Currently the world number two, she’s done very little this week, ending well down the rankings at +5. But her big sister Moriya has done the business for the family Jutanugarn this time. A flawless final round of 67, with birdies at 2, 7, 8, 12 and 18, and she has an outside chance of a top-ten finish at -3.
But suddenly there’s a little bit of separation developing at the very top of the leaderboard. The overnight leader JY Ko birdies 2, then her playing partner IK Kim drops a shot at 3. Plenty of drama to come yet, we’re sure: Kim was three in the lead after 36 holes, while Ko had a five-shot advantage over the field at one point yesterday, before a double bogey and bogey brought her back to the pack. Not an ideal start for Kim, but despite her infamous travails here, she’s the only one of the three South Korean front-runners with major-winning experience to draw on.
-9: Ko (3)
-7: Lee (4)
-6: Kim (3)
-4: Gillman (F), Ciganda (9), Kirk (6), Sharp (5)
Kristen Gillman birdies the last! She does indeed sign for that 66, a score that’s only been bettered this week by IK Kim’s second-day 65. She’s set an early target at -4. What a prospect Gillman is. Incidentally, she won that World Amateur Team Championship alongside a certain Jennifer Kapcho, who hasn’t had a bad weekend herself. Still an amateur, she blitzed the field at Augusta National in the first ever Women’s Amateur tournament to be held at the venerable old Georgia course. Kapcho could sell her finish for a fair few dollars at the Masters next week: eagle at 13, followed by birdies at 15, 16 and 18. Five under for the last six. And her eagle putt at 15 was only a turn away from dropping too.
Lexi Thompson won this tournament in 2014, though she’s probably better known for the one that got away. Failure to replace her ball correctly in the third round cost Thompson a four-shot penalty in 2017, a punishment that was only enforced midway through the final round, an eagle-eyed TV-owning pedant having shopped her upon clocking a replay. Easy to forget Thompson’s immediate response to that sickening blow: two birdies in three holes that helped her into a play-off with So-yeon Ryu. Unfortunately for Thompson, Ryu is made of strong stuff as well, and she got up and down after nearly finding Poppie’s Pond to win the title with birdie at the first play-off hole. Anyway, that’s a long-winded way of saying that Lexi’s moxie is on display here again. Starting at -1 today, she was probably just that little bit too far out to win. But she’s giving it a go anyway: birdies at 1, 5, 10 and 11 have more than offset bogey at 3, and she’s currently in a tie for fourth at -4.
2018 was a great year for Kristen Gillman. As a 21-year-old amateur, she won her second US Amateur title, contributed a 5-0-0 record in the rout of GB & Ireland in the Curtis Cup, and won the World Amateur Team Championship for the USA. She’s since turned pro, and is currently putting together the round of the day so far. There have been birdies at 1, 2, 4, 11 and 15, and she’s now heading up the last. A birdie at the par-five finishing hole would see her round in 66, the early clubhouse leader at -4. A most acceptable beginning to life in the majors as a professional. More when we have it.
All of the groups have now gone out, the leader JY Ko and IK Kim teeing off a few minutes ago. So there’s already been plenty of leaderboard realignment. The most significant early move has been made by MH Lee, who finished strongly and spectacularly yesterday, holing-in-one at 17 and making birdie up the last. The 26-year-old from Seoul continues that upward momentum today in some style: birdies at 1 and 2 have brought her to -7, within a shot of JY Ko’s lead. Lee’s playing partner, the big-swinging Danielle Kang, has also birdied 2, moving to -6. And the Spaniard Carlota Ciganda, who has featured strongly in the majors of late, has birdied 1, 4 and now 8 to launch herself into the mix.
-8: Ko (1)
-7: Lee (2), Kim (1)
-6: Kang (2)
-4: Ciganda (8), Lin (5), Sharp (3), Lee6 (3)
Good evening everybody ... or good afternoon if you’re in Rancho Mirage in the Californian desert for the 48th staging of the Dinah Shore. Co-founded and hosted by the famous big-band singer, actor and television personality, this tournament has been variously known through the years as the Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle, the Colgate-Dinah Shore, the Nabisco Dinah Shore Invitational, the Nabisco Dinah Shore, the Nabisco Championship, the Kraft Nabisco Championship and now the ANA Inspiration. A bronze statue of Shore greets the players as they reach the 18th at Mission Hills. Who will leap into Poppie’s Pond under Dinah’s gaze today? Let’s set about finding out!
Preamble
You’d need a heart of stone not to wish Kim In-Kyung all the best at Mission Hills this afternoon. Back in 2012, Kim left herself a one-foot putt for victory in the ANA Inspiration’s earlier guise, the Kraft Nabisco. A quick tap-in, and then she’d be taking the famous celebratory leap into Poppie’s Pond, before being awarded the Dinah Shore Trophy and draped in the Champions Robe.
Easy as you like. Only Kim - who had made a couple of fine birdie putts from 15 and 20 feet at 16 and 17 - allowed herself to be devoured by golf’s demons and yipped the tiddler. Her South Korean compatriot Sun-young Yoo won the resulting play-off at the first hole. Most of Kim’s demons were happily exorcised by her 2017 British Open win, a major finally landed. But one or two remain, because Mission Hills owes her a little something. If she prevails today, there’ll be wild and glorious scenes at Poppie’s Pond.
Not that Kim is the only player hoping to offset some major heartache. Ko Jin-young shot a fine 68 yesterday - it could have been a whole lot better had she not underclubbed at the par-three 14th and found the drink - and goes into this final round as leader, one shot clear of Kim. Ko has led after 54 holes at a major before, at Turnberry in the 2015 British Open, but she was blown away by peak-era Inbee Park, who shot an unforgettable 65. Ko looked the calmest of the entire field on Moving Day. If she repeats the process and breaks her major duck, there’ll be wild and glorious scenes at Poppie’s Pond.
Ko (-8) and Kim (-7) are out in the final group, clear of the rest of the field. But the gap’s not insurmountable. Lurking just behind at -5 are Danielle Kang, who was ripping the ball down the track with great relish yesterday, despite tweaking her shoulder playing through the thick rough, and Lee Mi-hyang, who last night sent a hybrid into the par-three 17th; three bounces and one gentle roll later, she was celebrating a hole-in-one and first-class air tickets anywhere in the world, courtesy of sponsor ANA.
A little bit further back at -3: Alena Sharp, Katherine Kirk and the marvellously monickered Jeongeun Lee6 (there have been five other Jeongeun Lees on the Korean tour, you see). The group containing Brooke Henderson and Jessica Korda should be well worth keeping an eye on too. We could go on, with the likes of Lexi Thompson, Charley Hull, Brittany Lincicombe and Carlota Ciganda just about still within realistic striking distance. But we won’t go on.
The first women’s major of the year is set up just so. A super Sunday stretches out ahead of us, as we discover who’ll be the latest star name to take the famous leap, kicking off wild and glorious scenes at Poppie’s Pond. It’s on!
-8: JY Ko
-7: IK Kim
-5: MH Lee, Kang
-3: Sharp, Lee6, Kirk
-2: Yin, Lewis, Lin, Henderson, J Korda, SH Park, McDonald
-1: Uehara, HJ Kim, Lincicome, Ciganda, Martin, Shin, Lee, Yang, Hull, Yan, Thompson
And the fourth-round tee times ... are here.
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