GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, New Jersey (AP) ― Shanshan Feng beat the wind and now has a good chance of beating everyone else in the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
Feng, who last year became the first Chinese player to win an LPGA Tour title and a major event in capturing the LPGA Championship, shot a marvelous 4-under 67 before the wind picked up Saturday and grabbed a three-shot lead heading into the final round.
The round matched the day’s best and gave the eighth-ranked Feng a 6-under 136 total on the wind-whipped Bay Course at the Stockton Hotel and Golf Club.
Korea’s Park Hee-young putts on the 17th hole at the ShopRite LPGA Classic on Saturday. (AFP-Yonhap News)
“I think right now I’m in good position this week, and if I can have some good results this week, it’s definitely going to give me more confidence for next week,” said Feng, referring to her defense of the LPGA championship.
The wind off Reed’s Bay was the story. It was mild in the morning when Feng played and then gusted between 20 and 30 mph in the afternoon, leaving players second-guessing club selection and battling inconsistent greens, some of which dried out and didn’t hold shots and others that were strangely receptive.
Second-ranked Stacy Lewis shot a 9-over 80, matching her worst round since the third round of U.S. Women’s Open last year. She fell from third to a tie for 50th.
The defending champion had three double bogeys, including two on fired eggs in the bunker, and refused to talk to the media immediately after the round.
“Glad that’s over! Crazy windy, bumpy greens and a couple fried eggs in the bunker all add up to a lot of shots, hopefully tomorrow is better,” she tweeted less than an hour later.
The cut of 6 over was the highest on tour this season. “We were all struggling, Jeez Louise,” said Paula Creamer, who finished on the cut line after playing two days with Lewis and Suzann Pettersen (10 over). “I had a triple yesterday and between the three of us we had three or four doubles. You don’t see that. I can’t even tell you the last time I had a double, let alone a triple. But it happens on this golf course. I think everybody is taking it seriously but it’s hard. It’s a different monster out there this year.”
Feng got the best of the monster in putting herself in position to win her second LPGA event. This hasn’t’ been the best of years for Feng, who won six times in 2012 with three wins coming in Japan and two others on the European tour. While she has three top-10 finishes, her best finish was a tie for seventh in Texas.
Kuchar hangs tough at Memorial
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) ― Matt Kuchar couldn’t think of conditions more difficult than Saturday in the Memorial, and he had plenty of evidence.
The swirling wind that made it difficult to pull the right club. Fast greens that led to 65 three-putts in the third round alone. And a 44 on the back nine for Tiger Woods, the highest nine-hole score of his professional career.
“I think most of us would tend to be surprised any time Tiger shoots a number like that, but a lot more understandable in these conditions,” Kuchar said after hanging on for a 2-under 70 that gave him a two-shot lead.
“If you’re not on good form, these conditions are really going to beat you up.”
Woods rallied on the front nine to salvage a 79, matching his second-worst score on the PGA Tour. And that wasn’t even the highest score on a tough day at Muirfield Village. Jordan Spieth shot 45 on the front nine for an 82, while Zach Johnson and Justin Hicks each had an 81.
Kevin Chappell matched the best round of the day with a 4-under 68, leaving him two shots out of the lead, along with Kyle Stanley, who had a 70.