Ariya Jutanugarn hit a 3-iron to 15-feet and calmly drained the eagle putt to take a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Volvik Championship.
“They move the tee box, so I have chance to go second shot iron, so I miss my first shot in the rough and second shot 220, and I hit my iron, and here I didn’t hit that good, but come pretty close to the pin and I make the putt,” Jutanugarn explained.
Jutanugarn, who will be in search of her third consecutive victory on the LPGA Tour, battled throughout the day. After turning in 3-over, 39, Jutanugarn sat two shots back of the lead. Another bogey on the par-4, 13th moved her even further back but the 20-year-old responded with a birdie on the next hole and the aforementioned eagle on the 18th to post 73 and keep the lead for a second consecutive night.
“To me it’s very hard today, because very windy, and the green is very, very firm today,” Jutanugarn said. “I feel better, but somehow I didn’t hit it good, but I feel better.”
Jutanugarn credited her caddie, Les Luark, for keeping her patient and focused throughout the day.
“We have a really good relationship,” Jutanugarn said. “We are like family. He’s like my brother, like older brother, and he helped me a lot in everything.”
Sitting a mere shot behind Jutanugarn are a pair of multiple time LPGA winners, Jessica Korda and Christina Kim, while Suzann Pettersen and Hyo Joo Kim, another pair of multiple winners, sit three back.
“I just gotta start making some putts,” Kim said. “I’m swinging really well, I’m swinging aggressively. I’ve got no fear. I’m working on a lot of things with my swing and my putting, so there’s a lot going on, and it’s all starting to come together.”
Play will begin tomorrow at 7:15 a.m. off the first tee with the leaders going off at 1:45 p.m.
JESSICA KORDA ONE BACK
On Friday, Jessica Korda had the low round of the day as she racked up five birdies and an eagle on her way to a bogey-free, 65. The four-time LPGA Tour winner continued her strong play with a 2-under 70 under tough third round conditions and sits one back of leader Ariya Jutanugarn.
“I just kept telling myself that pars were good, you know?” Korda said when asked about the playing conditions. “It is frustrating because you hit some great shots and they don’t end up where you think that they should, or like yesterday, they would end up right next to the hole and today it would be, you know, 20 feet away from the hole. So it was kind of just a little staying patient out there, and just making pars.”
Korda, the No. 25 ranked player in the world, is currently behind Brittany Lincicome (22) and Christie Kerr (19) for a position on the United States team at the UL International Crown in July. After finishing T10 last week, Korda will try to secure her fourth top-10 of the season on Sunday, something that would greatly help her chances of participating in international competition this summer.
“I’m just trying to put some good rounds together and the rest will kind of just take care of itself,” said Korda. “I can’t really be concentrating on making a certain team. I’m just trying to win golf tournaments and put good rounds together. The rest will take care of itself. That is just bonus.”
HOMETOWN GIRL DANIELA IACOBELLI HAS LPGA HONOR FRIEND’S MOTHER
Fans of the LPGA may have noticed players donning teal ribbons on their hats, bags and shirt this week at the Volvik Championship. The reason for the ribbons was the passing of the mother of a friend of Detroit native Daniela Iacobelli.
“We put them on the first and tenth tee. It was for players and caddies,” Iacobelli said. “I made a short memo to let them know who it was for and if they could, if they could wear them in remembrance, but also for awareness of the disease, since there is 144 women out here and one of us could be affected by that, so I thought it was -- it was good as a remembrance but also good as an awareness and to let people know this is real, this is a thing and maybe one day we can stop it.”
Iacobelli, who grew up in Clinton Township before moving to Florida at age 11, knew the family growing up and felt the need to show support.
“I was like “I know it’s not much, but if I can pull this, would you be able to be there?” And he started crying, they both started to cry, and I was like, ‘All right, I have to make it up,’’ Iacobelli explained. “So earlier this week we went to a fabric score and miscalculated the amount of ribbon we would need, but we sufficiently made 300 ribbons and they were out here, and I was texting them last night during coverage and they were like ‘Oh, my God, so-and-so is wearing a ribbon.’ So it was really special to be able to do that for someone, because I feel like that’s what professional sports enables you to do, and it was really neat to do that. It was special.”
)
)
)
)
