Seventeen-time LPGA Tour winner Lydia Ko is lurking at the top of the leaderboard once again at the BMW Ladies Championship. The 25-year-old carded a bogey-free, 6-under, 66 on Moving Day to sit in a tie for second with Andrea Lee at -14, one back of Atthaya Thitikul. Ko started off hot, making two birdies in a row on the first and second, and was steady throughout the next 16 holes, closing out her day with a birdie on the par-5 18th. While she still hasn’t seen a super-low number at Oak Valley Country Club, Ko was pleased with her Saturday effort and the lack of blemishes on her scorecard.
“I had a bogey-free round today. It definitely helps I think around a golf course like this where it is easily done, some of my bogeys the last couple days, they weren't like bad shots. Just a couple three-putts here and there,” said Ko who needed 29 putts to get the job done on day three. “I think when it's a golf course that it can happen, you have to be really focused and make sure that your intention is there on every shot no matter how easy or how difficult it is. I'm hoping that I'll be able to kind of keep that same mindset for tomorrow.”
Ko has eight top-five finishes in her last eleven starts and it’s the ninth time she’s been within five of the lead heading into the final round this season. In the eight previous instances, Ko only held the lead twice, once at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio where she went on to win and once at the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open where she ultimately finished in a tie for fifth. While most players would be frustrated to not have emerged victorious after being so close so many times, Ko isn’t one to worry about winning. She knows it’ll come again when the time is right.
“I've just got to focus on my game, and I don't know what I'm going to finish at the end of today or how many shots behind, but if I am confident and playing the best golf I can, and if somebody plays better than me, I can't do too much about that,” she said. “I think that's what happened in Dallas. I played good, but Charley (Hull) and Janet (Xiyu Lin) just played better. I think that's the key at the end of the day is I just play the best golf I can and kind of see what happens at the end of the week.”
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