While the temperature was high Sunday in Singapore, the scores were low.
There was a chance for a record-setting 59, but Sei Young Kim ended up with 10-under-par 62, smashing the tournament record, and despite a bogey on the 72nd hole, the 2012 winner at the HSBC Women’s World Championship Angela Stanford shot a 9-under-par 63.
The top 15 golfers on the leaderboard were a combined 85-under par on Sunday alone.
Kim, who won three times in 2015 and was named the LPGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year that season, started on the back nine and immediately started climbing the leaderboard. She was 7-under through seven holes thanks to five birdies and an eagle. She then made three more birdies on the front side through the first five holes before a bogey on the par-3 7th eventually derailed her chance at shooting a sub-60 round.
“I'm very happy to get back a great shot today. It is awesome,” said Kim, who admitted after making the turn at 7-under par she got a little nervous, thinking she was on to something special.
However, her low round moved her to 12-under for the tournament. She finished tied for 10th, five shots back of the winning total by Michelle Wie, who fired a 7-under-par 65 on Sunday.
Stanford, meanwhile, teed off about 20 minutes after Kim but went on a similar hot stretch to start her round, shooting a 7-under-par 29 on her front nine. She birdied five-straight holes to close out the front side, plus the par-4 10th. She bogeyed the par-4 12th before going on another run of three-straight birdies en route to a back-nine 34 after bogeying her final hole of the tournament.
“That was fun. That was a lot of fun,” said Stanford. “You know, you don't have these days a lot in golf, and it was just so much fun. I think I blacked out there for a little bit because I don't remember a whole lot.”
Stanford’s 29 on the front nine was a career-first for her, and she admitted as such to her caddie (and then she birdied No.10, too).
She said her caddied encouraged her to keep the good play going.
“I thought, ‘I think it’s a good day to learn how to grow a little bit,’” said Stanford. “Hopefully I'll be in this position more and not be nervous.”
Stanford moved from a tie for 27th starting the day all the way to a tie for eighth, her best finish on Tour since another tie for eighth at the Marathon Classic presented by Owens Corning and O-I last August.
Germany’s Caroline Masson matched Stanford’s 9-under-par 63 total to move to 11-under for the championship.
Other low scores on Sunday included former world No.1 So Yeon Ryu and South Korea’s Amy Yang shooting 8-under-par 64s, which would have matched the old tournament record.
Mi Hyang Lee and Jenny Shin joined Wie at 7-under par for the day.
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