Strong Australasian presence on KPMG leaderboard
Lydia Ko’s form continues and she is tied in second place – photo PGA of America
Australasia’s three leading female golfers, Minjee Lee, Lydia Ko and Hannah Green are all well in contention as the KPMG PGA Championship at the Congressional Country Club and despite the leader, In Gee Chun, breaking six shots clear of the second placed Ko and Jennifer Kupcho, the trio are well placed to gain at least a good hunk of the US$9 million purse.
Ko’s round of 67 improved her from 15th overnight to her share of second place, former champion, Hannah Green, added a round of 69 to be in a share of 4th and Lee put behind her a round of 73 on day one for a round of 68 today to be in 9th place.
Chun controls the tournament at this stage but with 36 holes remaining then there is a lot of golf to play and Ko, Green and Lee might yet work their way into winning contention by Sunday afternoon.
Ko has been in outstanding from of late reeling off four top fives in her last five starts and today she raced to the turn in 31 to put herself back into the tournament after a slow start yesterday, finishing with a round of 67.
“Yeah, yesterday I actually played pretty solid,” said Ko referring to the fact that he round of 72 yesterday was better then it appeared. “I think some of the pins were really hard to get to. And especially around a course like this, I don’t know how aggressive is playing smart, but I just tried to stick to my lines and just committed shots.
“Yesterday I thought it was a pretty decent start. Definitely a nice one today to kind of go into the weekend.
“I think the last couple of weeks it was a few silly mistakes, a few shots where I lost focus a little bit costing me a couple of shots from there. Other than that, I feel like the game is in a pretty solid place.
“At the same time, I think it is very difficult to win. The level of play on our TOUR is incredible. You can see just by the scores week in, week out.
“It is hard to win, but I’m just trying to put myself more in that kind of position, and I think when you keep knocking on the door, you hope that one day that door will open.”
Hannah Green today – photo PGA of America
Green won this event in 2019 and is happy with the way she has played to date this week.
“I feel like I played good,” said the West Australian. “I didn’t hit as many greens as I would have liked coming down the stretch, but really happy with 3-under par.
“Unfortunately, three-putted my last hole, so could have been possibly playing in the final group, but I’m still happy with where I am coming into the weekend.
“It’s going to be hard. As the course dries up, I think it will make it more difficult. I feel like today was still pretty soft, but the fairways were kind of releasing a little bit more. That was nice.
“Just going to just try and keep on shooting 3- or 4-under par each day, and hopefully that will be enough come Sunday.”
Lee is eight shots from the lead but only two shots out of second place and appears in line for yet another good finish in a major championship.
The leader In Gee Chun has already won two major titles and is in outstanding form as she looks to add this title to her US Open and Evian Championship titles.
In Gee Chun – photo Darren Carroll PGA of America
