CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL @STARADVERTISER.COM A Lim Kim teed off in the second round of the Lotte Championship at Hoakalei Country Club on Thursday.
1 /2 CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL @STARADVERTISER.COM A Lim Kim teed off in the second round of the Lotte Championship at Hoakalei Country Club on Thursday.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL @STARADVERTISER.COM Hawaii’s Malia Nam made the cut on Thursday.
2 /2 CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL @STARADVERTISER.COM Hawaii’s Malia Nam made the cut on Thursday.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL @STARADVERTISER.COM A Lim Kim teed off in the second round of the Lotte Championship at Hoakalei Country Club on Thursday.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL @STARADVERTISER.COM Hawaii’s Malia Nam made the cut on Thursday.
RELATED PHOTO GALLERY A rainbow accompanied by a slight drizzle graced Hoakalei Country Club late Thursday afternoon.
They appeared to bless a birdie barrage by A Lim Kim, who at the time was separating herself from the rest of the leaderboard with three holes left to play in the second round of the LPGA Lotte Championship.
But things changed fast.
Kim’s nearly completed monster round that gave her a two-stroke lead with four birdies on the first six holes of her back nine ended in a way that might haunt her later.
Instead of putting the finishing touches on a masterpiece, Kim bogeyed her last two holes.
She still finished with a 3-under 69 for the day, but Kim’s late lapses allowed Nataliya Guseva, Ruixin Liu and Yuri Yoshida to start today’s third round tied with her at 9 under for the tournament.
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Guseva had an eagle on the par-4 No. 7 hole.
“I holed it out from 110 meters, which was probably the highlight of the day today, ” she said. “I didn’t even see the ball going in, but, no, it was cool. I like that it just brings you more fire … I was just like, you know, just go out there with the confidence and make more birdies.”
That’s what she did—three birdies after the eagle helped her to a share of the lead going into the third round.
Kim’s coming-back-to-the-pack of the last two holes didn’t seem to bother her afterward. The 2020 U.S. Open winner knows there’s a lot more golf left to be played, and chose to assess her round in its entirety, not just on how it ended.
“Really good momentum, and then shot it good, putting it good, ” Kim said. “It’s good today.”
Late charges by Americans Ryann O’Toole and Auston Kim propelled them into fifth and sixth place, two and three strokes behind Kim.
Then five more golfers—among them Savannah Grewal and Polly Mack, who were right behind Kim much of the afternoon—are tied for seventh at 6 under. Nasa Hataoka is also at T7 after shooting the day’s best round with 8-under 64 and moving up 81 places.
Kim started the round with a one-shot edge atop a tightly packed leaderboard. But Yoshida grabbed the lead early Thursday, finishing her morning round strong with birdies on the final two holes.
She was alone atop the leaderboard during the early afternoon, until Kim caught fire in the middle of her back nine to get to 11 under with three holes left.
Meanwhile, Guseva tied Kim briefly at 10 under with birdies at 14 and 15.
All nine players at the top of the leaderboard after the first round represented different countries. The same is true now of the four leaders : Kim (Korea ), Guseva (Russia ), Yoshida (Japan ) and Liu (China ).
Malia Nam, a Kaiser High grad and LPGA rookie, grinded out pars on the last 10 holes, after two birdies on the first three were negated by three bogeys before the turn.
“I did what I needed to do, but it was a little more stressful than I’d like. I knew I had to make par on the last hole, ” said Nam, who added that she hasn’t been putting as well as she’d like.
But it was good enough for 1 over to go with her 1 under on Wednesday, and earn the tourney’s only local player tee times for today and Saturday since she made the cut line of even par.
Angela Stanford is at the other end of the career path from Nam, but also had a special reason for wanting to make it past the second round. The seven-time LPGA winner with $12.3 million in career earnings announced earlier this year on social media that this would likely be her final event as a full-time LPGA Tour member.
And, it looked like Thursday’s might be her final round.
That was before Stanford chipped in for an eagle on No. 18 to card a 70, and stand at 1 under midway through the event.
“You can’t finish in the top 10 if you don’t play the weekend, so I had to get that part first, ” Stanford said. “So anything can happen out here. … You know, I’ll just chip away at it the next two days and see what happens.”
Stanford pulled off a very notable strong finish in Hawaii in 2009. Michelle Wie was ahead of her by three shots with eight holes left at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay when Stanford caught fire with three birdies down the stretch to win.
Stanford has now made the cut nine times in 11 starts at Lotte. Her best placing was second in 2014, the year Wie, who is now retired, won the tournament.
LOTTE SCORES, TEE TIMES LPGA LOTTE CHAMPIONSHIP At Hoakalei Golf Course Thursday Second Round ; par 72 Nataliya Guseva ……………………..68-67—135 A Lim Kim ………………………………..66-69—135 Ruixin Liu …………………………………67-68—135 Yuri Yoshida …………………………….68-67—135 Ryann O’Toole …………………………70-66—136 Auston Kim ………………………………71-66—137 Savannah Grewal …………………..68-70—138 Nasa Hataoka …………………………74-64—138 You Min Hwang …………………….. 69-69—138 Polly Mack ……………………………….67-71—138 Angel Yin …………………………………70-68—138 Perrine Delacour ………………………67-72—139 Hyo Joo Kim …………………………….70-69—139 Jin Young Ko ……………………………70-69—139 Grace Kim ……………………………….72-68—140 Frida Kinhult …………………………….71-69—140 Jeong Eun Lee ………………………..69-71—140 Sophia Popov ………………………….73-67—140 Yue Ren …………………………………..69-71—140 Pavarisa Yoktuan …………………….71-69—140 Ashleigh Buhai ………………………..70-71—141 Jodi Ewart Shadoff ………………….73-68—141 Clariss Guce …………………………..69-72—141 Brooke Henderson …………………70-71—141 So Young Lee ………………………….71-70—141 Pernilla Lindberg ……………………..71-70—141 Thidapa Suwannapura ……………69-72—141 Robyn Choi …………………………….. 70-72—142 Amanda Doherty ……………………. 70-72—142 Lindy Duncan …………………………. 72-70—142 Ayaka Furue ……………………………. 70-72—142 Sofia Garcia …………………………….74-68—142 Kristen Gillman ………………………..71-71—142 Erika Hara ………………………………..73-69—142 Gina Kim ………………………………….69-73—142 Aline Krauter …………………………… 70-72—142 Yan Liu …………………………………….. 70-72—142 Gaby Lopez ……………………………. 72-70—142 Bianca Pagdanganan ……………. 67-75—142 Annie Park ……………………………….74-68—142 Emily Kristine Pedersen …………. 70-72—142 Pauline Roussin-Bouchard …….74-68—142 Yu Jin Sung …………………………….. 72-70—142 Arpichaya Yubol ………………………71-71—142 Liqi Zeng …………………………………. 72-70—142 Georgia Hall ……………………………72-71—143 Gurleen Kaur ………………………….. 70-73—143 Stephanie Kyriacou ………………… 70-73—143 Morgane Metraux …………………… 73-70—143 Azahara Munoz ………………………. 70-73—143 Kiira Riihijarvi …………………………… 70-73—143 Sophia Schubert …………………….71-72—143 Angela Stanford …………………….. 73-70—143 Xiaowen Yin ……………………………. 73-70—143 Hye Jin Choi ……………………………. 72-72—144 Olivia Cowan ……………………………70-74—144 Muni He …………………………………..69-75—144 Yu-Sang Hou ……………………………70-74—144 So Mi Lee ………………………………..72-72—144 Caroline Masson ……………………..70-74—144 Malia Nam …………………………….71-73—144 Yuna Nishimura ……………………….69-75—144 Paula Reto ………………………………..70-74—144 Mao Saigo ………………………………..74-70—144 Elizabeth Szokol ……………………..71-73—144 Failed to make the cut Laetitia Beck …………………………… 72-73—145 Celine Borge ………………………….. 74-71—145 Lauren Hartlage ……………………… 72-73—145 Soo Bin Joo ……………………………. 74-71—145 Minji Kang ……………………………….. 74-71—145 Cheyenne Knight …………………….76-69—145 Yu Liu ……………………………………….69-76—145 Hee-Young Park ………………………69-76—145 Alena Sharp …………………………….70-75—145 Jennifer Song ………………………….69-76—145 Kelly Tan ………………………………….. 73-72—145 Laura Wearn …………………………… 74-71—145 Marina Alex ……………………………… 73-73—146 Hyo Joon Jang ………………………….72-74—146 Danielle Kang ………………………….71-75—146 Minami Katsu …………………………..73-73—146 Maude-Aimee Leblanc …………….74-72—146 Jeongeun Lee ………………………….70-76—146 Roberta Liti ……………………………..73-73—146 Hira Naveed ……………………………..74-72—146 Honorine Nobuta Ferry ……………74-72—146 Pornanong Phatlum ………………..76-70—146 Dottie Ardina ……………………………70-77—147 Pei-Yun Chien ………………………….67-80—147 Isabella Fierro …………………………. 72-75—147 Mone Inami …………………………….. 72-75—147 Caroline Inglis ………………………… 75-72—147 Jiwon Jeon ………………………………..77-70—147 Haeji Kang ………………………………..73-74—147 Alana Uriell ……………………………… 71-76—147 Jing Yan …………………………………….73-74—147 Maria Fassi ……………………………….74-74—148 Min Lee ……………………………………72-76—148 Kaitlin Milligan …………………………75-73—148 Natthakritta Vongtaveelap ………74-74—148 Dewi Weber ……………………………..74-74—148 Matilda Castren ………………………73-76—149 Ssu-Chia Cheng …………………….. 74-75—149 Mina Kreiter …………………………….. 75-74—149 Mary Liu …………………………………..73-76—149 Emma Talley …………………………….76-73—149 Daniela Darquea ……………………..73-77—150 Sandra Gal ……………………………….74-76—150 Eun-Hee Ji ………………………………..74-76—150 Ga young Lee ………………………….75-75—150 Jennifer Chang …………………………74-77—151 Cydney Clanton ………………………76-75—151 Kaitlyn Papp ……………………………. 73-78—151 Gigi Stoll ………………………………….71-80—151 Benedetta Moresco ………………..78-74—152 Ana Pelaez Trivino …………………..72-81—153 Hinako Shibuno ………………………75-79—154 Amelia Lewis ……………………………77-79—156 Alexandra Forsterling ……………..78-81—159 Tee Times Third Round 7 :25 a.m.—Yuna Nishimura 7 :30 a.m.—Paula Reto, Muni He 7 :40 a.m.—Yu-Sang Hou, Caroline Masson 7 :50 a.m.—Elizabeth Szokol, Olivia Cowan 8 :00 a.m.—Somi Lee, Malia Nam 8 :10 a.m.—Mao Saigo, Hye-Jin Choi 8 :20 a.m.—Stephanie Kyriacou, Kiira Riihijarvi 8 :30 a.m.—Azahara Munoz, Gurleen Kaur 8 :40 a.m.—Georgia Hall, Sophia Schubert 8 :50 a.m.—Xiaowen Yin, Morgane Metraux 9 a.m.—Bianca Pagdanganan, Angela Stanford 9 :10 a.m.—Aline Krauter, Gina Kim 9 :20 a.m.—Ayaka Furue, Robyn Choi 9 :30 a.m.—Emily Kristine Pedersen, Yan Liu 9 :40 a.m.—Arpichaya Yubol, Amanda Doherty 9 :50 a.m.—Liqi Zeng, Kristen Gillman 10 a.m.—Yu Jin Sung, Gaby Lopez 10 :10 a.m.—Erika Hara, Lindy Duncan 10 :20 a.m.—Annie Park, Pauline Roussin-Bouchard 10 :30 a.m.—Jasmine Suwannapura, Sofia Garcia 10 :40 a.m.—Brooke Henderson, Clariss Guce 10 :50 a.m.—Soyoung Lee, Ashleigh Buhai 11 :00 a.m.—Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Pernilla Lindberg 11 :10 a.m.—Jeongeun Lee5, Yue Ren 11 :20 a.m.—Frida Kinhult, Pavarisa Yoktuan 11 :30 a.m.—Sophia Popov, Grace Kim 11 :40 a.m.—Jin Young Ko, Perrine Dela 11 :50 a.m.—Polly Mack, Hyo Joo Kim Noon—Youmin Hwang, Savannah Grewal 12 :10 p.m.—Nasa Hataoka, Angel Yin 12 :20 p.m.—Ryann O’Toole, Auston Kim 12 :30 p.m.—Ruixin Liu, A Lim Kim 12 :40 p.m.—Nataliya Guseva, Yuri Yoshida
