Slow and Go
If Jessica Korda has a lucky number, this week it would have to be No.7.
Korda holds a share of the 54-hole lead at the Blue Bay LPGA but she couldn’t have got there without the par three, seventh hole. It’s where Korda got a jumpstart with birdies on both Thursday and Saturday to help Korda cruise to bogey-free rounds of 67 and 66. While the hole wasn’t as kind to her on Friday, it served as a reminder to Korda to stay patient.
“I'm going to come in with the same mind-set,” Korda said about her plans for Sunday. “Yesterday I was 4-over through seven and then battled back to shoot even par and I was really proud of myself to keep myself in it. Like I said I just knew that I can make birdies out here and I've played well here in the past, and just stay with it, and that's exactly what I did today.”
In each round, the outward nine has played tougher for Korda who is a collective two-under par on the front nine versus nine-under par on the back nine
“So I missed a lot of birdie opportunities already at the beginning and I was just staying in my head, stay patient and stay positive, and I knew that I could make some birdies and just try and move up myself up that leaderboard, because I knew it was going to be tough.”
That patience helped Korda to one of Saturday's low rounds and give her, along with Minjee Lee, a two-stroke lead on of the field.
“All the girls are kind of five, six shots behind, but everybody has a shot out here. I don't know what the weather looks like for tomorrow, but yeah, I think it's going to be a really fun day.”
Korda tees off at 10:20 a.m. local time alongside Lee and Ariya Jutanugarn.
Lopez Reacts To Ochoa Hall of Fame Induction
Last week in Korea at the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship players and fans paid tribute to Hall of Fame member Se Ri Pak at the playing of her final event on the LPGA Tour. Without the success Pak found on Tour with 25 victories including five major championships, the women’s game would have never likely experienced the global growth it has seen over the last 20 years. Just as Pak paved the way for the more than 30 Korean players on Tour, Lorena Ochoa opened the door for women’s golf in Mexico. This week, the World Golf Hall of Fame announced Ochoa as an inductee of the 2017 class along with Meg Mallon, Davis Love III and Henry Longhurst. Rookie Gaby Lopez was one of those young girls in Mexico who looked up to Ochoa and began playing alongside the major champion at just 13-years of age.
“It's a huge honor. I think it's about not only her as a player, but her as a country. I've talked to many LPGA players right now currently and they still admire her, still respect her, because she was the No. 1 on the golf course and off the golf course,” said Lopez. “She was always very open-minded. She was very humble. She never lost her feet on the ground.”
Ochoa has become a close friend and mentor to Lopez who says she speaks with the major champion nearly every week, just one example of the many ways she has made herself available to Mexicans in all walks of life.
“She was always trying to help, and I think one of the keys is she was also very inclusive with the course staff. In America, there's a lot of Mexican workers in the course and she would sit down with them and have lunch. She would make those things, and still being No. 1, I think it takes a huge effort to see that as a normal person, because they see you as the top.”
Lopez hopes to continue to follow in her idol’s footsteps in growing the game in Mexico and keep working at becoming the best version of herself both on and off the golf course.
“I want to try to impact little kids. That's one of the things that actually impacted me when I was growing up, and it takes me nothing. It takes me to sign a ball and take a picture with a little kid. I love my job and I love what I do, and I think it's worth sharing it,” Lopez said. “And I know there's not a lot of Mexican players, but the very few, I think we have a nice potential and I think we can do very big things. It's going to take a little while. It not going to come from one day to another. It takes a process; it takes years, and having her next to us is going to make it easier.”
Lopez is one-under par through 36-holes at T-17.
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