BELLEAIR, Fla. — Nelly Korda made two long birdies to begin her recovery from a six-shot deficit to Charley Hull, cutting her lead to one shot Saturday heading into the final round of The Annika.
Hull continued to lead by limiting the damage with a bogey on the 18th hole at Pelican Golf Club after going into the water following a long wait that saw them finish in near darkness. That gave him a 2-under 68.
Korda was poised to tie the lead when he hit the tricky 18th green about 30 feet away. His birdie putt was down the slope and the green was still 4 feet out, and he missed the par putt and shot 67.
Both are among the fastest players on the LPGA. No one was happy with how it ended.
“It’s hard when you don’t really see it. I think it was a little bit of planning by starting too late for us,” Korda said. “Whenever you’re sitting at 18 and the sun has already set, I mean, it’s never fun. And especially with the way these greens are so clear and you can’t see well, I mean, obviously two factors that go into that, too. .
“At the end of the day, I’m the one who missed out.”
Hull was 12-under 198, one shot ahead of Korda and Zhang Weiwei, who finished early with a 62. Zhang is No. 106 in the Race to CME Globe and needs a top-100 finish to retain a full LPGA card. next year.
The weekend looked like a duel between Korda, the No. 1 player in women’s golf and the LPGA player of the year, and the underdog Hull. That’s what the final round looks like, even though it didn’t start that way.
Korda, who started Saturday two shots behind, had a pair of bogeys in the opening four holes and failed to birdie the par-5 seventh. Hull had two birdies to extend his lead over Korda to six shots, and Hull had four shots at one.
Korda holed a super slick, 45-foot birdie putt on the eighth hole, then followed that up with another slick layup to make birdie about 35 feet on No. 9.
The American star kept getting closer, getting to 2 feet on the 11th and making a 10-foot birdie putt on the 16th. Korda hit a wedge to 4 feet on the 17th, and Hull responded with a wedge to 3 feet for birdie.
They also matched the bogeys at the end in near darkness because of the speed and time taken to deal with the fast greens and in some cases to get decisions.
Hull came to a halt and rolled overboard. He jumped about 6 feet and made a bogey putt, only for Korda to three-putt for bogey.
“My putt, I couldn’t see the hole,” Hull said. “I couldn’t see a break or anything. So it was dark to finish.”
Alexa Pano, playing in the final group, never recovered from three straight bogeys early on and shot a 72 that finished just seven shots behind, dropping her out of the top 60 in the Race to CME Globe.
The top 60 after this week will advance to the CME Group Tour Championship, where the winner of the season finale receives a $4 million prize.
The top 60 and top 100 are important numbers in the semi-finals. Zhang is unlikely to break into the top 60 with wins, but keeping his card is important. He had nine birdies and will be in the final group with Korda and Hull.
“I just felt it was an amazing day,” Zhang said.
Germany’s Olivia Cowan had a 65 and is tied for sixth, four shots behind. He is number 116 in the points table and needs to hold his position to keep his card at least.
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