Cristie Kerr in contention again
Two weeks ago at the LOTTE Championship, Cristie Kerr headed into the final round trailing, but fired a sizzling final-round score to come out on top.
She has a chance to do the same this week in Texas.
Kerr, who shot one of only five under-par rounds Saturday (she was 1-under-par), admitted Saturday’s conditions were ‘really difficult.’ She said she will just try to ‘stay in the moment’ for Sunday’s finale.
“If I make a mistake I’m not getting to caught up in it. I don’t feel like I’ve peaked this week yet,” she said. “I’ve had some chances to shoot some low numbers, but just haven’t quite made the putts. Going to work on my putting and see what happens tomorrow.”
Amateur Eun Jeong Seong in final group Sunday
Despite a double-bogey on the par-4 14th, South Korean amateur Eun Jeong Seong will be in Sunday’s final group at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout presented by JTBC.
Seong, who was 4-under-par through 13 holes, stumbled in her final five holes, going 3-over. However, her 6-under-par total through three rounds has her just two shots back of the lead held by Japan’s Haru Nomura.
Seong began her day with back-to-back birdies, but admitted her final few holes were very tough because of the high winds. She birdied her final hole, which she said felt “good.”
Going into Sunday, she says she is going to focus on par, and not on winning.
And as far as turning professional?
“Hopefully tomorrow I will win, and I can turn pro for the next tournament,” she said. “But if I don’t, I will play Q-School this year. I want to play LPGA Tour next year.”
Inbee Park going for win No.3 in Dallas
Inbee Park has been in this position before at the Texas Shootout, and she’s closed the deal.
Thanks to an even-par round on Saturday, the South Korean Hall of Famer is just two shots back of the lead, and is primed for her third victory at this event (she also won in 2013 and 2015).
Park admitted it was a ‘really tough’ day Saturday, with the wind wrecking havoc on scores.
“I missed a lot of greens today. It was a really tough day because I had to get up and down from a lot of places. But it was really good putting day, although last couple days I gave myself a lot of opportunities at a birdie but today I made a lot of putts for a par. So that saved me a few shots out there today,” she said. “I feel like I'm putting much better, so I'm happy with that. Just trying to bear with the conditions.”
Stacy Lewis tees off early, climbs leaderboard
Stacy Lewis, no stranger to playing in the windy conditions that greeted golfers Saturday, made it look easy, firing a bogey free 5-under-par 66.
She said she was excited to tee-off early Saturday and try to beat the worst of the weather.
“I knew getting out earlier would be an advantage to post a number and just see what happens,” said Lewis, who sits in fifth place. “I got off to a good start on my first nine holes and kind of really kept things going from there. It’s playing really hard out there and you just have to be really patient.”
The two-time LPGA Tour player of the year hasn’t won since 2014, when she found the winner’s circle three times.
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