BRADENTON, Fla. — After playing together in the first two rounds at Bradenton Country Club, Megan Khang will tee it up on Sunday alongside her good friend and Bradenton native Nelly Korda in the final round of the LPGA Drive On Championship. The pair will also play with LPGA Tour winner Ayaka Furue, teeing off at 11:56 a.m. Eastern time.
Khang has been staying at Korda’s house this week and has enjoyed hanging out with Korda’s caddie Jason McDede, his wife and LPGA Tour player Caroline Masson and the pair’s baby boy, Benton. Benton has helped take both Khang’s and Korda’s minds off golf throughout the week in Bradenton, Fla., something that seems to have proven useful as both are in contention in the second event of the 2024 LPGA Tour season.
“(Nelly and I) had a baby-filled morning,” said Khang after Saturday’s third round. “It's so nice to have that off the golf course. That itself has been great. I think we use that as a distraction. A baby is one of the best distractions, especially if it's not yours. You can afford to not pay attention.”
But the 26-year-old has been paying close attention on the golf course this week. She recorded a 2-under 69 on Thursday, making one bogey and three birdies to sit in a tie for 14th through 18 holes. Friday saw Khang card another 69, this time making two bogeys and four birdies, two of which came consecutively on holes 10 and 11.
Khang then caught fire on Moving Day, firing a 5-under 66 to vault from T12 to T2 with one round left at Bradenton Country Club. The 2023 CPKC Women’s Open winner was stuck in neutral for most of her front nine, finally hopping off the par train and making an eagle on the par-5 8th hole before parring No. 9 to turn in 34.
She tripped up with a bogey on the par-4 10th hole to drop back to 5-under overall, but Khang picked up the pace with seven holes to play, carding back-to-back birdies on holes 12 and 13 to move to 7-under. Khang birdied again on the par-3 15th hole, picking up one last birdie on the par-5 17th hole to post at 9-under overall and sit four shots back of Korda, who leads at 13-under.
“I saw the pairing last night, saw that I was playing with Mel (Reid) in a (twosome). I love playing with Mel, and that in itself is a great start to my day,” Khang said. “For the most part, stayed pretty steady out there. Had some really good ball-striking moments and was able to capitalize. I jokingly said in the scoring room, I said, ‘Someone learned how to putt today.’ It was funny. Hopefully, it trends into (Sunday).”
Here comes @megan_khang1023 😤
— LPGA (@LPGA) January 27, 2024
Tune in on @GolfChannel to catch the rest of Moving Day at #DriveOn 📺 pic.twitter.com/P9OyIYr2rP
The 66 is Khang’s lowest round in her five previous appearances in the LPGA Drive On Championship, and it’s her lowest round since the final day of the 2023 CME Group Tour Championship last November when she carded a final-round 66 to finish in a tie for 36th. It’s the 21st time in Khang’s LPGA Tour career that she has been within five of the lead entering the final round, with the most recent instance being at the 2023 Maybank Championship, where Khang ultimately finished ninth.
With another final round in contention on tap, Khang will be looking to make some hay with her flat stick on Sunday at Bradenton Country Club. She hopes to take what she learned about the greens on Saturday and apply it to her last 18 holes at the LPGA Drive On Championship as she works to track down her good friend Korda and maybe another LPGA Tour victory in the process.
“These greens are tricky,” said Khang, who has averaged 31 putts over her last three rounds. “I'm just hoping to go out there tomorrow, give it a good stroke every time. I think the past couple of days, I hit it well. Just couldn't make anything. I went out there today and told my caddie, Jack (Fulghum), that today we're just going to put good strokes on it. Whatever happens, happens. Let's just have fun out there because this wind is a menace. Might as well make some fun out of it. Again, it's a Sunday, so (I will) just embrace the moment.”
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