THE PRESENT MEETS THE FUTURE
Hye-Jin Choi (-8) flew out to California just to gain more playing experience on the LPGA but found her stride and sits near the top of the Round 3 leaderboard. She was paired with her role model and last week’s Bank of Hope Founders Cup champion Inbee Park on Saturday, and Choi ended up having the advantage over the LPGA Hall of Famer by two strokes on the round.
“I played with her once before, but this was my first time in a stroke play tournament. I just wanted to go out there and play well,” she said through translation. “Playing with Inbee made me want to play even better and it was really fun."
Choi has experienced great success on the Tour, and most recently finished runner-up at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open behind Jin Young Ko. She also finished runner-up by two strokes to 2017 Rolex Player of the Year Sung Hyun Park at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open. The top-5 performance earned her a spot in next week’s field at the ANA Inspiration.
EVIAN CHAMP ROUNDING INTO FORM
The LPGA’s most recent major champion has found her game in Carlsbad this week. Anna Nordqvist, who captured her eight career LPGA win and second career major championship at the 2017 Evian Championship, fired a 6-under par 66 in the third round of the Kia Classic and sits in a tie for eighth at -9.
“I feel my game is in a pretty good spot,” Nordqvist said. “It’s only my fourth event of the year. Just keep working at it. Days like today golf seems pretty simple. It won’t always.”
Nordqvist, the No. 6 ranked player in the world, is searching for her first top-10 finish of 2018 in her fourth start of the season. She has two top-10s at the Kia Classic in her career, including her victory in 2014.
Playing well this week could give Nordqvist extra encouragement going into next week at another venue where she has experienced success - she has four top-10 finishes in eight career starts at Mission Hills C.C. in the ANA Inspiration.
TOO CLOSE TO CALL
Only one tournament has been decided by a single stroke in 2018 - Michelle Wie’s one-shot victory at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore. All four other events were decided by multiple strokes.
Thus far in 2018, no tournament has been decided in a playoff - there were five events that went to a playoff in 2017.
Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic - Brittany Lincicome by two strokes
ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open - Jin Young Ko by three strokes
Honda LPGA Thailand - Jessica Korda by four strokes
HSBC Women’s World Championship - Michelle Wie by one stroke
Bank of Hope Founders Cup - Inbee Park by five strokes
NOTABLE QUOTES
Eun-Hee Ji, Republic of Korea (70-68-67, -11)
“I was working on my putting because I haven’t felt good last week and before. The rough is really hard out there, so I tried to keep it in the fairway and try to keep it on the green. So I really focused on that.”
In-Kyung Kim, Republic of Korea (67-69-69, -11), on seeing the leaderboard changing on Saturday
“Well, I didn’t see it. I was so busy catching up with the group front. But in the same time, I felt like, yeah, I was on the 4th, 2nd, something like that, but I couldn’t pay attention twosome.”
Lizette Salas, United States (69-67-69, -11)
“I’ve had some good history here, but at the same time this is a whole new year, whole new scenario. I’ve been working extremely hard during the off-season. I have the best team I could ask for. I just have to play as confident as I can. I’m striking it well. Just got to minimize my mistakes.”
Wei-Ling Hsu, Chinese Taipei (72-66-68, -10) on making triple-bogey her third hole of the tournament
“So making triple bogey on that hole I was like, Just play. Don’t even think about it. Just play. Just swing. Don’t afraid of anything. Because I was already 3-over. I was like, just play.”
Cristie Kerr, United States (67-64-75, -10) on her play Saturday
“Mentally just wasn’t quite as sharp; swing wasn’t quite as sharp. I mean, every putt I hit like bounced horribly. Like a lot of putts didn’t have a chance to go in the hole. I don’t know why it was different today on the greens.”
OF NOTE
Americans have won three of five events in 2018 - Americans have won at least seven tournaments in four of the last five years (two American wins in 2016).
Only the United States (three) and the Republic of Korea (two) have recorded wins in 2018 - the last time two countries won at least the first five events of the LPGA season was in 2015 (Republic of Korea and New Zealand won first six tournaments).
Lizette Salas has 22 career top-10 finishes on the LPGA - her lone LPGA victory came at the 2014 Kingsmill Championship presented by JTBC.
Eun-Hee Ji’s win at the 2017 Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship presented by CTBC snapped a streak of eight years since her win at the 2009 U.S. Women’s Open.
With a win, In-Kyung Kim would join Brittany Lincicome, Jin Young Ko and Inbee Park as players with wins in both 2017 and 2018.
Cindy Lacrosse was the 2010 Epson Tour Player of the Year, but has never finished in the top 10 on the LPGA in 99 career starts.
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