Thirty-two tournaments have come and gone in 2015 season but everything is up for grabs with only 18 holes separating Lydia Ko from holding every season-ending award the LPGA has to offer. Ko leads the Race to the CME Globe, Rolex Player of the Year, Vare Trophy and money list title races, and only trails co-leaders Cristie Kerr and Ha Na Jang by two shots in her bid to defend her title at the CME Group Tour Championship.
Kerr (66) and Jang (69) hold the 54-hole lead at 13-under-par. Jang is playing for her first LPGA Tour title while Kerr, at 38-years old, is eyeing her 18th career win.
“I feel fresh and kind of ready to perform,” said Kerr. “I don’t feel like this is the last tournament of the year for me. It feels like there’s a couple left. Hopefully that can carry me through tomorrow.”
Lydia Ko maintained her No. 1 projection in the Race to the CME Globe with her round of 69 on Saturday. Ko earned the biggest single payday in women’s golf history a year ago when she came from three shots back on Sunday to sweep both the inaugural Race to the CME Globe and the CME Group Tour Championship with a 4-under-par 68 on Sunday, and she’ll need to come from behind again on Sunday to do the same in 2015.
“I mean, it would be awesome. When you defend something or do something back to back, it’s always cool to do that,” Ko said. “There’s still a lot of golf to be played. Inbee is playing great, so are the other girls. You can’t take anyone out of it. If you are like five shots, six shots behind, that can change a round, especially on a course like this when somebody makes a good birdie and someone makes a bogey, that’s two shots straightaway. So there’s still a lot of golf to be played. I just got to focus on my game. I think that’s all I can do from here.”
Ko leads Park by three points in the Rolex Player of the Year standings and needed to beat Park by two shots this week to overtake her in the Vare Trophy standings. She’s currently up two shots on Park who sits at 11-under-par and will win the money list title as long as Park doesn’t win here Sunday.
The race wasn’t nearly this close when the third round began but Park fired a 5-under-par 67 Saturday to storm back into contention and get within striking distance of Ko on Sunday. It seemed almost unimaginable that Park would find herself in this position after sweeping two of the three major championships held this summer but Ko went on a heater late in the season that included three wins over three months.
“That was pretty unexpected, I think,” Park said. “When I won the British Open, there was so much gap in between me and the other players. I thought somebody had to win at least three or more times to even have a chance. Obviously Lydia was one that was able to do it. I mean, Lydia is a very talented player and obviously it was something that was unexpected, but I just try to keep tell myself everything, the award and every title, it was never mine. It was just - it just looked like mine because the middle of year, I was leading and everything.”
But only 18 holes here Sunday separate Park from earning back everything she ever wanted this season.
“I just keep telling myself it was never mine. You have got to earn your way to it,” Park said. “It’s good that I still have a chance at it.”
It’s exactly as it was envisioned – the race ending here in Naples.
“The positive is I’m glad and I should be proud that I’m in this position,” Ko said. “Anything can happen. If I play well, it might end up being a good day where I’m holding a couple trophies. At the same time, because everything is on the line, there is more added pressure. I think it’s more kind of those first couple holes where you do get nervous anyway, but to know at the end of the 18th hole, there could be a lot of things on the line. A little bit more added pressure, but that’s why I’m not going to not think about all that.”
Leading A Field Of The LPGA's Best 72 Golfers
17-time LPGA winner Cristie Kerr could be primed for her 18th here Sunday and second of the 2015 season if she’s able to put together a fourth round that’s anything like her third. Kerr previously won the Kia Classic earlier this year and she stormed into a share of the lead Sunday on the strength of five birdies in six holes after making an opening bogey at the first. Kerr’s 6-under-par 66 was the lowest round of the day and allowed her to tie Ha Na Jang up, who held a three-shot lead entering the day.
“Great little pitching wedge on the second hole and made a 6 footer,” Kerr said. “Then made my four birdies in a row stretch started at No. 4. Made a 30 foot kind of snaking putt. Just hit it kind of close the next three holes. Just did great and had a lot of chances out there. If you are going to shoot a low round, you are going to be doing a lot of things well.”
Jang started out slow with an outward nine of even-par 36 with only one birdie and one bogey. Jang heated up on the back nine though with an inward nine of 3-under-par 33 that included one of only two eagles on Saturday at the par-5 17th. Jang’s looking for her first career LPGA win after three prior runner-up finishes this season and last held the 54-hole lead at the Marathon Classic Presented by Owens Corning and O-I where she lost in a playoff to Chella Choi.
“I think today too much thinking when I’m playing golf. I want tomorrow to be very simple,” Jang said. “My thinking is a little changed in my mind. So a little more comfortable with my shot tomorrow and then I don’t want to think about the score and other players. Just playing myself, so that’s it.”
Jang was also battling a different foe Saturday – feeling under the weather and a bloody nose. She first developed a bloody nose on the 12th hole and then it popped up again on the 18th hole. Jang’s had this happen before and always knows the reason when it does.
“Hot weather today. Feels like 95 degrees,” Jang said. “My nose bled definitely the hot weather. It’s not dry this area. I think the hot weather is really bad conditions for me.”
Ha Na Jang Post-Round Interview (Video)
Cristie Kerr Post-Round Interview (Video)
Piller Primed For First Win
Gerina Piller sits two back of the lead at the CME Group Tour Championship following a third round 67. The long bomber feels comfortable on the lengthy track at Tiburon and finished second here in 2013.
“I’ve had success here before,” Piller said. “To come out this year with the start that I had, I’m super excited with where my game is at. Just really excited for tomorrow.”
Being near the top of the leaderboard is something that Piller has been doing more and more often these days with five top-10 finishes in 2015 including a runner-up finish at the Meijer LPGA Classic. The Roswell, New Mexico, native would love nothing more than to take home her first career victory at the season ending event.
“Well, it would mean a lot just to get the win,” said Piller. “It would mean even more so we don’t have to answer this question anymore. I’ve had a good year, switched caddies, switched clubs, so I think it would be very special.”
While Piller may not have reached the winner’s circle as an individual she was an integral part of Team USA’s victory at the Solheim Cup where she drained a clutch putt on 18 to help the U.S. complete the largest comeback in the event's history.
“I would say just my confidence,” Piller said of what she took away from the week in Germany. “For a while I would hear a lot, only if she could get her putting going. I think that was a huge stepping stone for me to show people that I am a great putter and I think so. I think that was probably some of it.”
Gerina Piller Post-Round Interview (Video)
Quotables
“One, I think it’s great for the Tour. I think you’ve got a big purse. Everybody is showing up, everybody is ready to play. It’s going to be great TV and theater. That’s what you want at the end of year. This golf course is hard. You got to hit it good. You’ve got to hit some good quality shots, long irons into a lot of these par 4s. So I think that’s the reason why you are seeing such a good leaderboard more than anything.”
-Stacy Lewis on seeing so many big names on the first page of the leaderboard
“Every putt, I felt confident with my read and then and it wasn’t right. That kind of repeats over and over again, I got frustrated. I think I got more frustrated because Jason was right. I think on 7, he said a ball out. I said very confidently, no, it’s less than that and it missed low. Maybe at the back of my mind I said, oh, I can’t believe this Australian is right. That’s a joke. I do hate it when I’m wrong.”
-Lydia Ko on her difficulty reading the greens on Saturday
Lydia Ko Post-Round Interview (Video)
Watch Out Behind You
Inbee Park sits just four shots off the lead heading into the final round of the LPGA Tour season and it’s a position she has seen plenty of success in throughout her career. Park has eight career come-from-behind victories in her career and overcame a five-shot deficit at the 2012 Sime Darby Malaysia and a four-shot gap at the 2013 Honda LPGA Thailand.
“I’ve been in both ways, obviously. I always say the closer you are to the lead or if you are leading by a lot, that’s even better,” said Park. “Obviously I did all I can do the last three days and this is where I am. I’ve got to deal with where I am. Obviously there has been a lot of good numbers out there in the last couple of days.”
Park started Sunday at the RICOH Women’s British Open this summer three shots back and went on to win her seventh major title and completed the Career Grand Slam. She has been a model of patience throughout her career and said that she’ll need some tomorrow.
“I don’t know the weather is going to be tomorrow,” said Park. “I think they are expecting some thunderstorms and some rain. It can be some patience. I think you’ve got to stay a little bit patient out there tomorrow. It can be a long day. I’m going to try to rest up and enjoy tomorrow. It’s last day of the LPGA tournament this year.”
Inbee Park Post-Round Interview (Video)
So You're Saying There's A Chance!
Stacy Lewis had a great showing on moving day and moved from T29 to T12 with a round of 5-under 67. Lewis trails the lead by six shots and said after her round that she did the best she could to give herself a chance on Sunday. She said being in one of the earlier groups might play to her advantage on the greens on Sunday.
“If I’m 5 or 6 back, I think I’ve got a chance, especially if we get weather and get some delays and things get tough,” said Lewis. “If somebody can post a low number, we’ll see what happens. It’s always better on these greens to get out ahead and not be in those last groups. They’re a little less bumpy early on. If the weather gets bad tomorrow, I can post a number and just see what happens.”
Depending on several scenarios, Lewis would still have a chance at the $1 million Race to the CME Globe bonus if she finishes runner-up. She said that would be a decent consolation prize if she doesn’t end up winning the event.
“It would be a really nice bonus. I don’t know. That’s a tough one,” said Lewis. “I would love to win. I don’t know the scenarios. I knew if I could keep close to Inbee and Lydia and maybe beat them by a couple of shots, I could sneak up there and win a little bit of cash at the end of the year. That was honestly my goal more than anything coming in today, to get a little bit closer to Inbee and Lydia to give myself a chance to have a little bonus money to walk away with.”
Stacy Lewis Post-Round Interview (Video)
Show Me The Eagles
Ha Na Jang and Yani Tseng carded eagles on their day to raise $10,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project as part of the season-long Wounded Warrior Project® Weekends.
The LPGA has partnered with the Wounded Warrior Project® for the past two seasons through the Wounded Warrior Project Weekends. So far this season $271,000 has been raised. In 2014, $283,000 had been raised through eagles made by Tour players and the CME Group generously rounded up to $300,000.
Wounded Warrior Project® Weekends is a season-long charity program that will be tied into the Race to the CME Globe. Each Saturday and Sunday at LPGA tournaments, CME Group will donate $1,000 to Wounded Warrior Project® for each eagle that is recorded. This amount will increase to $5,000 for each eagle during the weekend of the CME Group Tour Championship and a formal check will be presented to the Wounded Warrior Project® during the trophy ceremony at the CME Group Tour Championship. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.
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