Category: USGA

By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: Brittany Lang lifts the trophy after winning the U.S. Women’s Open Golf tournament at CordeValle on Sunday, behind Lang, center second runner up Anna Nordqvist and right Hye-Jin Choi third place look on

SAN MARTIN, Calif. – In clawing her way into a playoff after overcoming a large deficit on Sunday, Anna Nordqvist did not make a mistake. However, in the playoff, she ended up making the biggest one of all, one that ultimately cost her the tournament and wiped out all of her efforts.

The infraction, which happened on the second of a three-hole aggregate playoff as Nordqvist’s club was shown to have touched the sand as she prepared to hit a shot out of the fairway bunker – resulting in a two-stroke penalty, since a player is not allowed to ground one’s club in a hazard, which a bunker is considered – opened the door for Brittany Lang to win the 71^st playing of the U.S Women’s Open, played at CordeValle Golf Resort.

It was not immediately known to the players, however. Television cameras captured the club touching a grain of sand, but the players were not notified until they were in the fairway of the next hole, having already hit their third shots.

“I couldn’t really believe that it happened,” Nordqvist said. “It wasn’t my intention to ground the club. It’s blowing 35, 40-(mph) out there, and I had a 5-iron off a downhill lie in the bunker. It’s been a long day, a long week, so I probably misjudged it a little bit and touched a little bit of sand.

“I just wish they would have told me earlier. But hey, I’m finishing second in the U.S Open, so I’m proud of myself.”

Lang’s final round had some ups and downs to it – the two bogeys on her Sunday card a clear indicator of that – but she won the title by staying away from the big mistake, particularly the kind that doomed Nordqvist.

She spent two days fighting her way to the top herself, and after she nailed a 25-foot, left-to-right birdie putt at the 15^th, she had a one-shot lead.

However, she surrendered that lead at the 17^th, as she was faced with a long birdie putt, which she ended up three-putting for a bogey to fall back into a tie.

She parred the 18^th hole and subsequently played the three playoff holed at even-par to claim the trophy, the victory being sealed as both players were told of Nodrqvist’s infraction and resulting penalty on the previous hole.

“This (win) is huge for my career,” Lang said. “This is a huge momentum builder, a step in the right direction. (But) You never want to win on a penalty, especially to Anna, because she’s a friend of mine,” Lang said. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s a part of the game.”

This was a deflating defeat for Nordqvist, not only for the way that that it was ultimately decided but also due to what she had battled back from. She began the final round trailing by six shots but shot a bogey-free 67 to get into a playoff.

She played the front nine at one-under but then really kicked it into gear on the back side when no one else seemed to be able to generate very much momentum at all.

It started with a birdie at the 12^th, before the big, tall Swede jumped into the tie for the lead with a monstrous eagle at the par-5 15^th and came within inches of the title after narrowly missing a birdie putt at the 18^th.

Sung Hyun Park had a clear shot at the title herself, but a penalty stroke on the final hole diminished that. Trailing by only a single shot at the par-5 18^th, Park decided to go for the green on her second shot rather than laying up for a closer wedge shot and paid dearly for it. Her fairway-wood shot splashed the lake protecting the left-front part of the green, resulting in a one-shot penalty and ultimately a crippling bogey.

A wayward second shot also proved to be the undoing of Lydia Ko, the mild-mannered 54-hole leader who appeared to be in control early on.

The 19-year-old led by a single shot going into the final round and extended that lead with by rolling in a 20-footer at the sixth, but she quickly ran into trouble that knocked her off the top of the leaderboard. Two holes after the birdie putt, she bogeyed the par-3 eighth and then made a huge mistake at the par-5 ninth that caused her to lose the lead outright.

After her tee shot landed in the thick rough, her second shot landed right in the barranca – a lateral hazard – and elected to take a drop from behind the hazard. Ko ended taking a double-bogey on the hole, and when Sung Hyun Park birdied the hole, she found herself trailing by one.

“That kind of took me off (my game) a little bit,” Ko said. “But I tried to have a positive mindset. There were still nine holes to go, and you just never know what it will happen.”

She then took another bogey at the 12^th and could not get up and down from the deep front bunker at the 14^th to drop another shot, falling behind by three and putting any comeback hopes in serious jeopardy.

Ko birdied the 15^th to narrow her deficit to two and give herself at least a glimmer of hope, but she could not gain any more ground. Needing to hole out from about 100 yards out at the 18^th to tie, her third shot skipped past the hole and came to rest about 15 feet away.

“Unfortunately, I am not the one holding the trophy, but I feel proud of the way I played,” Ko said. “It’s been a really awesome experience.”

By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: Lydia Ko reacts after making a birdie on the 18th green during the third round of the USGA at CordeValle US Womens Open Golf

SAN MARTIN, Calif. – Lydia Ko has a real knack for making up ground in crucial parts of a tournament and coming away with a win, particularly in majors, and she’s on her way to doing it again this weekend.

Ko, who just turned 19 in April, trailed by nine shots after Thursday’s opening round of the U.S Women’s Open at CordeValle Golf Resort but has gained ground since then, as she narrowed her deficit to only three on Friday with a 66.

While those ahead of her on the leaderboard went south on Saturday, Ko continued her ascent to the top with a two-under 70. She traded a bogey for a birdie on the front side, but she gained two shots on the final nine holes, with birdies at the 13^th and 18^th holes to take the lead, one shot ahead of Korea’s Eun Hee Ji.

“The first round was frustrating,” said Ko, who has already won a major this year, the ANA Inspiration, which was a couple of weeks before her birthday. “(But) just because somebody shoots eight-under par the first day doesn’t necessarily mean that the tournament is going to end up (with a winner going) 32-under par,” “There’s still a lot of golf to be played.

“All I can do is play my best, and if someone plays better than me, that’s fine,” she continued. “I just have to focus on my game and not worry about what everyone else is doing, so that way I don’t get carried away with that.”

Ji took a similar route as Ko on Saturday, as she also shot 70 to stay within a stroke of the lead. She bogeyed the par-5 third hole but quickly rebounded with a birdie at the par-4 seventh. Frpm there, she picked up a shot at the 13^th and another one at the 17^th.

The best round of the day, however, belonged to Texas native Brittany Lang, who shot a four-under 68 and finds herself only two shots off the lead heading into the final round. She got off to a very nice start, recording three birdies on the front side – taking advantage of the decidedly-more friendly early-morning conditions, as she teed off at 9am PST – before bogeying the par-4 13^th.

It didn’t take her very long to recover, however. She got the shot right back with a birdie on the very next hole and gained another one at the par-5 15^th.

“I did everything pretty well,” Lang said. “I played pretty steady. I didn’t really do anything stupid. I didn’t put myself in any bad spots. I let myself be able to make pars and just have a comfortable day.

“I (also) knew going out at 9:00, it was a perfect time to play because it wasn’t too cold, and the greens were going to be softer, so I was excited.”

Sung Hyun Park went into the third round at eight-under and got off to a fairly-nice start and even picked up another shot at the eighth to boost her lead at nine-under, but a damaging double-bogey at the ensuing hole seemed to derail any momentum she had.

She steadied the ship a bit, however, parring the next four holes, but she then took two bogeys against one birdie the rest of the way to finish with a 74 and a tie with Ji for second.

While Ko steadily climbed her way to the top of the leaderboard, Mirim Lee, Thursday’s leader after shooting an opening-round 64, has gone the other way. She entered Saturday behind only two strokes, but she seemed to slowly lose steam as the round progressed.

She was particularly victimized on the front nine, with four bogeys against one birdie. Lee was able to pull it back together on the back nine with only one bogey but could not regain any ground, and she walked off the course trailing Ko by five shots.

By Jeremy Harnes

AP photo: USGA golfer Sung Hyun Park hits from the 18th tee during the second round on Friday at CordeValle Park is the current leader of the tournament

SAN MARTIN–It has been a well-documented fact that CordeValle Golf Resort plays completely different in the morning – calmer conditions and softer greens with a much higher potential for scoring – than it does in the afternoon, when the greens harden up to the point where it is very tough to stop the ball on them, even with a wedge shot.

Mirim Lee, who used the morning conditions to grab the opening-round lead, found this out on Friday, as she teed it up in the afternoon.

The Korean held things together on the front nine, but things came a bit unglued on the back side, and she left the course on Friday having given up her lead after shooting a two-over 74, a 10-stroke difference from the day before.

“It was really tough today,” Lee said. “The greens were a little slow but a little firm, too. I kept trying to hit the fairway and the green, but I couldn’t.”

In the meantime, fellow Korean Sung Hyun Park catapulted herself into the lead with a six-under 66, and the two players will play in the final group of the day Saturday, scheduled for 1:25 pm PST.

Pleasanton native Paula Creamer, who won this event in (2014), made the cut exactly on the number on Friday. With a pair of two-over scores of 74 in the opening two rounds of this tournament, Creamer heads into this weekend’s proceedings with an overall score of four-over, which proved to be the cut line.

Also barely making the cut was Brooke Henderson, who won the Cambria Portland Classic just last weekend. After shooting a four-over 76 on Thursday, the Canadian rebounded quite nicely on Friday with a one-under 71 to punch her ticket to the weekend.

Christina Kim, a native of San Jose, which is less than a half-hour away from CordeValle, also made the cut, although she backed her way in. She struggled to a three-over 75 on Friday after firing a two-under 70 in the opening round.

NOTES: One of the notable players to miss the cut was Se Ri Pak, who is considered a legend as well as a pioneer in her native South Korea, and is credited for paving the way for players such as Lee, Park as well as So Yeon Ryu.

Pak appeared to be on pace to make the cut after posting a one-over 73 on Thursday and holding it together through the front nine on Friday. However, things got away from her quickly on the back nine, and she finished Friday with an 80.

“Over 19 years, I have such a great time,” Pak said. “I have such great success, beginning with the U.S Open. The USGA makes it so special for me, (as) this is my retire(ment) year.”

 

By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: USGA’s Mirim Lee drives into the ball at the ninth tee in the first round Lee shot a eight under par 64 at the U.S. Women’s Open Golf Tournament at CordeValle on Thursday

SAN MARTIN–The U.S Women’s Open is supposed to serve as the ultimate test to the world’s best female golfers. For most, that has already proven to be true.

Mirim Lee, on the other hand, seemed to just breeze right through that test.

The Korean grabbed a three-shot lead in the opening round of this tournament at CordeValle Golf Resort with an eye-popping 64.

In doing so, Lee shot the second-lowest score in the history of this tournament, with the only mark lower occurred when Helen Alfredsson shot a 63 in the opening round of the 1994 event.

Lee certainly had her game going, but she also benefited from having played in the morning, when the conditions on and around the course were calm while the greens were soft and receptive.

“I think everything was good,” said Lee, whose best finish this year is a tie for fourth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship one month ago. “Like driver is good, and then iron is good.”

“The course is perfect now.”

As the afternoon rolled around, all of that changed, and the LPGA’s premier players found that out the hard way on Thursday.

The world’s number-one player, Lydia Ko played alongside the second-ranked Brooke Henderson and the fourth-ranked Lexi Thompson in the afternoon, and the trio could not come close to matching Lee’s level.

Ko finished the opening round with a one-over 73 while Thompson shot a 74, and Henderson closed out Thursday’s proceedings with a four-over 76. It was a considerable step back for Henderson, who is fresh off of her victory at the Cambria Portland Classic, which she won by four strokes.

Meanwhile, San Jose native Christina Kim is continuing her strong play. She shot a two-under 70 on Thursday and is currently tied for 11th.

“I’ve been swinging really, really well, and I’ve been putting really, really well,” Kim said. “Plus, I turned 32 this year, and my dad is like ‘You played pretty good when you were 16, so why don’t you try to pretend like you’re only half your age when you’re on the golf course.’