NORTON, Mass. — Jin Younger Ko took benefit of an early collapse by Haeran Ryu and turned her personal unhealthy break right into a birdie Saturday for a 5-under 67 that took her from a six-shot deficit to a two-shot lead over Lauren Coughlin within the FM Championship.
Ryu was coming off a career-best 62 on the TPC Boston that staked the 23-year-old from South Korea to a six-shot lead going into the weekend of the $3.8 million occasion.
It was gone in a matter of six holes.
Ryu took double bogey on the primary and fourth holes, each usually tame on the Gil Hanse design, after which dropped one other shot on the powerful par-4 sixth. By then, she was one shot behind and by no means fairly caught up.
It didn’t get significantly better. Ryu had a 78, and went from a six-shot result in 4 photographs behind. Ko was extra shocked by Ryu than her personal rating.
“She’s such an amazing participant. I imply, she shoot like 10 beneath yesterday and I assumed, ‘Is that potential to play on this golf course?’ I simply needed to observe her,” Ko mentioned.
Ko, the previous world No. 1 who hasn’t gained on the LPGA Tour since Could 2023, began with a pair of birdies and shot 32 on the entrance 9 to fast acquire management.
Her finest — and most weird second — got here on the seventeenth. Her tee shot appeared to come back to relaxation simply exterior a divot. Ko was making ready to hit when she felt a gust of wind with simply sufficient energy to blow the golf ball into the divot.
However she stored her poise, hit her method to twenty ft and holed the putt.
“Seventeen shouldn’t be a simple gap,” Ko mentioned. “Obtained some luck.”
She closed with one other birdie to succeed in 11-under 205 and shall be within the closing group with Coughlin, who had a 69 and shall be going for her third win within the final six weeks. The wonderful run was sufficient to place Coughlin on the Solheim Cup for the primary time.
That is the final match earlier than the Sept. 13-15 matches in opposition to Europe.
Carlota Ciganda of Spain had her second straight 67 and was three photographs behind, together with former U.S. Girls’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz (67) and Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, who had a 69.
Coughlin is on such a robust run that she didn’t really feel as if she performed her finest and but the 31-year-old from Virginia is correct within the combine.
“I hit a whole lot of greens however I don’t really feel like I hit a whole lot of good golf photographs, however they type of ended up in some OK spots and made a pair putts,” Coughlin mentioned. “I feel total it wasn’t my finest. However I used to be in a position to get rating out of it.”
The FM Championship is in its first yr, and the corporate already raised the prize cash to $3.8 million from when it first introduced it might sponsor the LPGA occasion. FM additionally has provided free lodging to the gamers and is giving a $1,000 stipend to anybody lacking the minimize.
