Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either. Two golf courses to play for beginners. A major championship two weeks before Christmas. Nothing felt normal about the US Women’s Open until Saturday.
That’s when it became the norm to define this biggest event in women’s golf for so many years. The long, soft and muddy Champions Golf Club found a premium equivalent.
Hinako Shibuno did his best to catch up.
The 22-year-old from Japan narrowed the lead to four shots on a single shot when his innings slipped to 74 in 3 overs on the final hole. He still had a two-wicket lead in one day, breaking just two tough 66s.
“All the holes seemed very difficult to me,” he said.
It was like this for everyone.
Amy Olson, who almost came out of the 17th fairway and was strong for 71, who felt very little, lost how many times she made mud on her golf ball.
Stacey Lewis saw her chances of winning her home course slipping from three consecutive thighs to second for a triple bogey in the 14th hole.
The next day may be yet to come.
Friday night’s course was expected to be full of rain during the Sunday, and the USGA started early with hopes of becoming champions as soon as possible.
Shibno, who was on her way to her second major in years, was at 4-under 209 and headed to the practice range to take her driver out until the disappearing sun cast long shadows.
“I was very nervous myself,” he said. When asked if there was a major champion with one last smile and what cares in the world seemed so nervous, Shibuno replied, “Because I was on top of it all.”
And he still is. Only with difficulty.
Morea Jutanugran, her two-time big champion sister, was playing in the same group as Aria, until she threw a bunker shot at the back of the 17th green and tied three for a double bogey. She still managed a 72 and was three behind, with only four players remaining equal.
The other was South Korea’s Ji Yong Kim 2, the exact opposite of the Cyprus Creek course. Kim 2 made a cut to avoid a shot and shot 67 – one in just two rounds – which took him to the tie for the third. Kim finished par-5 chipping for a birdie on the ninth hole.
Shibno Mazar is only trying to become the third player to make his first two LPGA Tour titles. The other was Jean Chan (2015 US Women’s Open and 2016 Evian Championships and Se Ri Pak), who won the LPGA Championship and US Women’s Open in 1998.
Shibuno won the Women’s British Open at Woburn last year, and refused to accept LPGA membership because she did not think she was ready. Now his only way to join the LPGA is to win on Sunday, and it’s not easy.
Eight players split with four shots to reach the final, a group that included Lydia Co (72) and Texas senior Caitlin Papp, who played in the final group with Shibuno and had until the last three holes. Didn’t throw two shots in. A 74. They were equal to 213 with 19-year-old Yelimi Noah (72) and Megan Khang (74).
World number one and two-time world champion Jin Young Ko scored 16 in his 71 rounds and that was enough to give him at least one chance. She was at 1 over 214 with women’s PGA champion Sei Young Kim (73).
They all had to contend with a course that lasted 6,635 yards and felt longer due to heavy rain on Friday after another round was over. There was more than enough mud to collect on a golf ball in the fairway. This causes a lot of problems for the champions.
Asked about the mud, Olson laughed and replied, “Which one?” There were about 18 of them. ”
“At one point I laughed and it was like, ‘Will it be in a toothpick or a ball of mud?’ Because it was too much one day or another, ”he said. “So I’m really hoping we either have an elevator, a clean and tidy place, or it’s so wet tomorrow that the water just has to pull the mud out.”
He delivered his best shot at No. 17, an 8-iron – the same club, the same type of shot for his hole-in-one in the opening round – that came an inch away from inside. The last time Birdie and a solid Mercury put her in the last group as the 28-year-old from North Dakota tries to win for the first time.
