ALWAYS DANCING
If the wait benefitted anyone, it was Sadena Parks. She made birdie on her first three holes Saturday to get within three shots of the lead.
“On fire, yes. It was good,” Parks said. “I hit my second shot into the first green and then the horn blew, so I had to wait five hours to make that putt. I made that putt and I was on fire. I guess sitting down and relaxing and coping with the girls helped me relax a little bit out there.”
Her consecutive birdies, though, paled in comparison to her pre-round stretching routine , which looks like more of a choreographed dance than a stretch, that was captured by Golf Channel’s broadcast before she teed off. Parks is always dancing, always the life of the party, and always entertaining.
“Helping me get loose and to entertain everybody else out there. They think it’s quite hilarious what I do,” Parks said. “But my coach taught me a few stretches and muscle waker-uppers earlier this year, so I thought I would pull them out on the green.”
WINNER OF THE DAY?
If there was a winner of the day Saturday, it’d have to be the golf course. Despite torrential rain during a five hour delay, Robert Trent Jones Trail’s Senator Course at Capitol Hill was still pristine when players returned to the course Saturday. Even players were surprised at just how good of shape the course was in after sitting inside the clubhouse for five hours while it poured rain outside.
“Actually, the course drained very well, so the greens were still rolling out just as much, and the fairways, the ball was reacting the same as if it was dry,” Parks said.
Austin Ernst didn’t notice much of a difference either from the day prior. These greens are going to be slick no matter how much moisture the sky dumps on them.
“The greens were a little softer, but other than that, I mean, it played pretty similar. The greens weren’t any slower,” Ernst said. “The air was a little bit heavier so the ball wasn’t going quite as far as it went the first two days. And then the greens would get a little bit more spin back than we had earlier in the week; they would just kind of hit and stop, but they wouldn’t really spin. They’re spinning a little bit more on those first few holes.”
NUMBERS TO KNOW
14 - There are 14 players within four shots of the lead when play was called Saturday.
15 - Yani Tseng has 15 career victories and is looking for her first since 2013 here this week.
31 - The lead group will have 31 holes to play Sunday.
75 - 75 players still have to complete their third round when they return to the course Sunday.
303 - Five hours and three minutes was the delay players had to wait out Saturday when play was suspended due to storms in the area.