LPGA THAILAND TOURNEY NOTES

Third-Round Notes and Statistics

Honda LPGA Thailand

Siam Country Club Pattaya, Old Course, Chonburi, Thailand

Feb. 24, 2018

LEADERBOARD

1, -20 (196) – Jessica Korda

2, -16 (200) – Moriya Jutanugarn

3, -15 (201) – Minjee Lee

Transcripts can be found at http://asaptext.com/orgs/lpga/363/

JESSICA KORDA HOLDS FOUR-STROKE LEAD AFTER THREE ROUNDS IN THAILAND

Jessica Korda didn’t make her first birdie of round three at the Honda LPGA Thailand until sticking her approach on the 11th to 3 feet, but started to build a sizeable lead into the final round. Korda carded a 4-under 68 on Saturday to get to 20-under, which ties the 54-hole tournament scoring mark, and leads by four strokes over Thai darling Moriya Jutanugarn and five strokes over Australia’s Minjee Lee.

After the birdie on 11, Korda found the range with the putter. She made a 10-foot par save on 12 and a 15-footer for birdie on 13. She then made birdies on both 14 and 15 to grow the lead. 

“I had no expectations, but my coach and I have worked together and it is still there,” said Korda. “I was bit nervous on the front nine, but I knocked the rust off.”

After making zero birdies on the front nine, Korda made five on the back. She hit 13 of 14 fairways.

Korda is now 18 holes from her fifth win on the LPGA and first since the 2015 Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.

“It’s crazy how quick it is coming together,” said Korda. “I’m really enjoying it and now have one more day.”

For more of Bret Lasky’s Five Things to Know from the Honda LPGA Thailand, visit http://www.lpga.com/news/2018-honda-lpga-thailand-five-things-to-know

NOTABLE AND QUOTABLE

Jessica Korda (196, -20)

“I haven’t been in this position in a couple months. I knew was playing really well at the end of the season, but I haven’t been in this position. Being back, it just takes you a little bit of time. I was hitting okay shots and just the putts weren’t falling. Then one fell and kind of started to open the door a little bit. I think that’s just what I got to keep doing, is not trying so hard and let it come to me.”

Moriya Jutanugarn (200, -16)

“I really enjoy my game today and just trying to keep playing, like just doing what I want to do, and it’s working out pretty good.”

Minjee Lee (201, -15)

“I’m hitting it pretty solid. Just at the start I probably had a little bit of a slow start. Didn’t really hole anything on the greens, but got it going a little bit. Just fed off Jess (Korda) pretty much on the back nine.”

SISTER ACTS ON THE LPGA TOUR

At one point during Saturday’s third round of the Honda LPGA Thailand, the leaderboard read Korda, Jutanugarn, Korda, Jutanugarn. No, it wasn’t a typo. Rather, the two sets of sisters currently playing on the LPGA Tour – Americans Jessica andNelly Korda and Thai players Moriya and Ariya Jutanugarn – held the four top spots.

For a while, it looked like Sunday’s final group would feature one sister duo. While that ultimately did not happen (Jessica and Moriya will be in the last group at 11:40 a.m., with Nelly and Ariya one group ahead at 11:28 a.m.), the sisterly affection was obvious.

“I love seeing her name up there,” said Jessica Korda, 24, of younger sister Nelly, 19. “I think that also lights a fire under my butt a little bit as well.”

“We played together last year three times. It was a lot of fun,” added Nelly Korda . “I know her so well; she knows me so well. She’s my best friend; I’m her best friend.”

Ariya Jutanugarn, 22, has seven LPGA wins to her name, and she has seen sister Moriya, who at age 23 is older by just 15 months, come so close to getting her first win. When asked about Moriya’s success on Saturday, Ariya said, “She keeps playing well since last year, so to me it’s not a surprise. I know she’s going to keep playing good.”

Should either Moriya Jutanugarn or Nelly Korda win tomorrow, that sister pair would join Annika and Charlotta Sorenstam as the only sisters to both win on the LPGA Tour. Annika Sorenstam has 72 career victories, while Charlotta Sorenstam has one.

Sisters to play on the LPGA Tour (* = players with a win)
Danielle Ammaccapane*	Dina Ammaccapane
Alice Bauer	Marlene Bauer Hagge*
Donna Caponi*	Janet Caponi LePera
Numa Gulyanamitta	Russy Gulyanamitta
Ariya Jutanugarn*	Moriya Jutanugarn
Jessica Korda*	Nelly Korda
Karen Lunn	Mardi Lunn*
Hee Young Park*	Ju Young Park
Aree Song	Naree Song
Annika Sorenstam*	Charlotta Sorenstam*

KORDA REWRITING PERSONAL AND TOURNAMENT HISTORY BOOKS

Jessica Korda is enjoying a week to remember at the 2018 Honda LPGA Thailand, and making history in the process. Her second-round 62 was the lowest round of her eight-year LPGA career, and was her first 10-under round since she shot a 62 en route to victory at the 2010 South Atlantic Women’s Amateur Championship, also known as the SALLY.

That 62 was also the lowest round in tournament history, besting the nine 63s shot since the tournament began in 2006 and returned most recently by Beatriz Recari in the fourth round of 2015.

Korda’s 36-hole score of 16-under 128 is set a new tournament mark, breaking the previous record of 130 set by Suzann Pettersen in 2010 and Stacy Lewis in 2015, and her 54-hole score of 20-under 196 ties Pettersen’s record set in 2007.

QUICK HITS

Play was suspended at 4:31 p.m. due to lightning in the area and resumed at 5:03 p.m. with the next-to-last group on the 18th green and the last group on the 18th tee

This is Jessica Korda’s seventh appearance in the Honda LPGA Thailand; her best finish is T3 in 2016

This is Moriya Jutanugarn’s ninth appearance in the Honda LPGA Thailand; her best finish is seventh in 2017

This is Minjee Lee’s third appearance in the Honda LPGA Thailand; she finished T25 in 2016 and T8 in 2016

IN OTHER NEWS

ATTAYA THITIKUL WINS 2018 WOMEN’S AMATEUR ASIA-PACIFIC, EARNS THREE LPGA EXEMPTIONS

Emerging Thai star Atthaya Thitikul, 15, secured a dramatic wire-to-wire victory at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific by winning a four-way play-off at Sentosa Golf Club and securing places in two of this year’s major championships.

Continuing to sing, laugh and joke with experienced caddie Roongroj ‘Yod’ Boonsri, Thitikul carded a closing 71 to join Japan’s Yuna Nishimura (69), the Philippines’ Yuka Saso (68) and New Zealand’s Wenyung Keh (67) with an eight-under total of 276 over the 6,456-yard New Tanjong course.

After narrowly missing birdie-putt chances to win on the first two extra holes on 18, Thitikul tapped in for par on the long par-four 12th before 17-year-old Nishimura missed a long par putt to concede victory. Keh, 20, and Saso, 16, exited after the first and second extra holes respectively.

Now, she has earned invitations to the ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills Country Club in California, USA, and the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England, as well as next week’s 11th HSBC Women’s World Championship, also at Sentosa Golf Club.