NO VIOLATION BUT A CLEAR CONSCIENCE FOR KO
Lydia Ko called over a rules official after she left the sixth green and said they’d need to go to the Golf Channel booth. She wasn’t sure if her ball had moved on the green and she didn’t want to head home without clarifying it and making sure that it didn’t.
It turns out it didn’t and everything was cleared.
“I wasn’t sure because it’s obviously getting a little dark, and with the steepness of the greens, you never know if it does move or not, and I kind of was hovering over it going back and forth, so I don’t know if that action was making it look like it moved or not,” Ko said. “The rules, we cleared everything, so now I can just go to bed and have a good dinner and come out here early, but this happened to me last year at this tournament, the second round or something, and it happened at KPMG, too, so I just wanted to clarify it so it wouldn’t be a problem tomorrow. Like I said, I’d rather be penalized now than DQ’d later.”
JESSICA KORDA LOOKS TO IMPROVE ON RUNNER-UP FINISH AT COATES IN 2015
After a runner-up finish at Golden Ocala last season, Jessica Korda again finds herself in the hunt at the Coates Golf Championship Presented by R+L Carriers.
“David Whelan and I have been working really hard this off-season,” Korda explained. “I’m kind of getting back to my old swing and getting back to my fundamentals and making everything really simple, so I’m just trying to put in the work. On the golf course, it still feels a little off on the course, feels a little better on the range. Just got to keep working on it."
Korda, a four time winner on Tour, sits one shot back of Lydia Ko and Ha Na Jang and has the confidence to pull out a fifth tomorrow.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Korda said. “Going into Malaysia I didn’t think it was, and it happened there, so I don’t see why not this week.”
30 HOLES LATER KIM KAUFMAN TIED FOR THIRD
Kim Kaufman made it through just 12 holes of her third round Friday before play was halted, but she left the golf course with the second best round of the day to that point at 3-under for the day and 6-under-par for the tournament.
She came out of the gates on fire with a front-nine 4-under-par 32 and was tied for the lead at the turn. She did bogey the par-4 10th though and enters Saturday just one shot out of the lead with 24 holes remaining for her to play.
“I think I hit every fairway. I did miss a couple of greens and made one bogey, but just made some good putts, had some knock-ins out there that kind of added up,” Kaufman said. “Honestly I was surprised the scores maybe weren’t a little bit lower, but when you’re playing well, you always think that.”
The 24 holes Kaufman faces Saturday are actually six less than she played Friday. She played all 18 holes of her second round Friday morning and then had an hour and 45 minute break between rounds.
“I just ate up in dining and sat there for about 30 extra minutes and then went and warmed up again,” Kaufman said. “It was perfect. It wasn’t too long."
Kaufman’s in search of her first career win. Her previous best is a tie for second in October at the Blue Bay LPGA.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
2- Lydia Ko, Ha Na Jang, and Jessica Korda all tied for second here a year ago at 15-under-par and now all three are within one shot of the lead entering the final day of play with Ko and Jang leading and Korda just one shot back
4 – Ha Na Jang has four runner-ups in 2015 and is looking for her first LPGA win
17 – There are 17 players entering Saturday with three shots of the lead
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