Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa, seeking a third title in four years at her homeland LPGA event, fired a four-under par 69 Saturday to hold a one-stroke lead after 54 holes at the Corona Championship.
Defending champion Ochoa fired eight birdies but also had two bogeys and a double bogey in a roller-coaster third round to stand on 20-under par 199, one stroke better than Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, who fired a 67.
Overnight leader Ochoa opened with a birdie and gave back a bogey on the next hole, but sank back-to-back birdies at the fourth and fifth and three birdies in a row starting at the ninth.
PHOTO: REUTERS
A bogey at the 12th and double bogey on the par-three 14th sent Ochoa stumbling, but she regained her form with birdies at the 15th and 17th holes to finish atop the leaderboard.
Pettersen enjoyed a bogey-free day, her only bogey so far this week coming on the fourth hole of her opening round.
The European standout birdied the par-three sixth, eagled the par-five eighth and birdied the par-four ninth plus the 12th and 15th to stay on Ochoa’s heels.
She was unable to convert a short birdie putt at 18.
South Korea’s Choi Na-yeon was third on 204 with Americans Wendy Ward, Irene Cho and Morgan Pressel sharing fourth on 205.
Choi was delighted with her position.
“Today, I played really good,” she said. “I think everything that I made was really good today and it put me in a really good position for tomorrow in the final round.”
However, she said she wouldn’t change her focus just because of her position on the leaderboard.
“I don’t think the important thing is to win,” she said. “For me, I really just want to keep it rolling. I just have to trust in myself.”
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng was tied for seventh on 206 and compatriot Teresa Lu tied for 28th on 213.
■ZURICH CLASSIC
AFP, NEW ORLEANS
Jerry Kelly, a US veteran seeking his first title in seven years, fired a three-under par 69 on Saturday to stretch his lead to three strokes after the third round of the PGA Zurich Classic.
Kelly, who last won at the 2002 Western Open, led by one stroke after 36 holes and boosted the margin by finishing 54 holes on 13-under par 203, three strokes ahead of compatriot Steve Marino in the US$6.2 million event.
A bogey-free round for Kelly included birdies at the par-five second hole plus the par-four fifth and 15th holes.
Marino, by contrast, had a roller-coaster round that began with back-to-back birdies followed by a double bogey at the par-three third.
After closing his front nine with three birdies, Marino opened the back nine with a bogey but birdied 11 and 12. A birdie at the 16th was followed by a bogey at the par-five 18th.
“It came out real hot and went over the green,” Marino said of his bogey at the last. “That’s the last place you want to be.”
Sharing third on 207 were Australian Rod Pampling, South Korea’s Charlie Wi and Americans Aaron Watkins, John Rollins and Charles Howell. A pack of seven more players on 208 included South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini.
Pampling’s round was marred by a double bogey at 12.
“Trust me, I wasn’t very happy,” Pampling said. “You know, hitting a five-wood and the ball plugs, you’re never too happy after that. But I’d been playing good. I hadn’t made too many mistakes.”
Wi, who had held the first-round lead, said the wind made life tough.
“It’s very difficult with the wind conditions,” Wi said. “Especially on 17, you get it next to the water. And you make mistakes there.”
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
RSS