Saturday, April 12, 2008

Corona Championship – 3rd Round

Lorena Ochoa (-21) has a five-shot lead going into the final round of the Corona Championship. Inbee Park is in second place at -16 while Song-Hee Kim is third at -13. Karine Icher is fourth at -12 and Na Yeon Choi is fifth at -11. UPDATE: No sooner had I posted this, Park's bogey at 18 turned into a snowman. The triple puts her at -14, seven shots back. Disregard anything following that suggests that this event is NOT over.

Another day, another 66 for the World’s Number One. Ochoa has bogeyed exactly one of her first 54 holes. With no one besides Park closer than eight strokes, Lorena only has the second-year player from South Korea to worry about on Sunday as she looks to clinch Hall of Fame entry. Inbee may be up to the task – if she can post a number on Sunday anywhere near the 64 she carded Friday, Ochoa may have to sweat it out a bit. Would have been easier had she not bogeyed 18, though. Kim still had a remote chance of making the final round a three-way battle until she also bogeyed 18. Song-Hee shouldn’t feel too bad about that - if Lorena isn’t going to bogey anything, I’m not sure Tiger Woods could haul her down tomorrow.

Oddly enough, Park is in a similar situation in regards to securing second place – Kim, Icher and Choi are the only players within eight (make that six) shots of her. Karine matched Ochoa’s 66 for Round of the Day to make the day’s biggest move. Nicole Perrot’s 68 was the only other sub-70 round – that vaulted the Chilean to T17. Others on the up-elevator: Sophie Gustafson, Caroline Llano (both -5), Jill McGill (-3) and Kristy McPherson (-2). Going down: Sun Young Yoo (76 -5), Hee Young Park (80 E), Jamie Hullett and Dina Ammaccapane (both 78 +2). All of these players (and those they are tied with) have good chances at securing a Top 10 finish and giving their money-list standing a needed boost.

It’s not easy recapping an event with a different tournament playing out on the tube in front of you. Hope I didn’t screw up too much. I blame it all on the lpga.com scoreboard!

2 comments:

Bill Roberts said...

HD
Just a bit of trivia, Sophie Gustufson registered 3 eagles in the third round.I think that has to be a record?

Hound Dog said...

Sophie tied the record. Alice Ritzman (1979 Colgate European Open) and Nina Reis (2006 Safeway Classic) both eagled three times in one round. Ritzman posted 68 that day, Reis 72. The accomplishment doesn't seem to guarantee a super-low round, does it?