Nelly Korda, Charley Hull and Lilia Vu had clearly been the three best players of the first two days of the AIG Women’s Open. They had played together in those rounds with a cumulative score of -18. The rest of the players had a total up to Friday of +241. This Saturday only Lilia Vu (-6), the defending champion, was able to play under par and thanks to a numantine exercise of resistance, she handed in a card of 71 strokes. Both Nelly Korda (-5) and Charley Hull (-2) handed in over par cards of 75 and 77 strokes.
Jiyai Shin (-7) took full advantage of this, who will face the last round at Saint Andrews as the tournament leader. Coming from behind, she gained four strokes on the field and with 67 strokes, she moves to the top.
The Korean will seek her third British Open twelve years after winning her second and last Major at Royal Liverpool. Let’s remember that the Korean was World Number One for twenty-five weeks between 2010 and 2011. She won eleven times on the LPGA until she gave up the American card in 2014 to focus on the Japanese circuit, be close to her family and play the Majors she was qualifying for. Last year she was already close to ending the streak of eleven years without winning a Major with a second place in the US Open and a third place in the Open. She enjoys playing this tournament a lot. She has played it eleven times, never missed the cut and beyond a 60th place, her worst ranking is a 36th.
On the links, she feels at home and she demonstrated it on hole 17 by giving the shot of the day. The short golfer hit a bomb of a second shot on the right that the green collected towards the hole. She left the birdie practically given on a flag where more than 160 bogeys have already accumulated. A beautiful shot that perfectly summed up her round today. If tomorrow at her 36 years she managed to close the circle and add her third Open more than a decade later, it would be one of those stories that go down in the annals of golf history.
The Number One will try to prevent it. Nelly (-5) did not start the round well. She had only made one bogey in the first two rounds and this Saturday in just two flags she already had two bogeys. She recovered with a great short game and added three birdies that put her round under par. She reached -9 and was a leader with authority. However, the last nine holes have been a poem. The face of the Number One said it all. Distraught and with a twisted gesture.
From the tee, the American played fine, with the irons it was not a bad day, but as the day progressed, the precision with the short game was getting out of tune and where she was not especially fine was the putter. Up to five three-putts have been counted in her round.
What was being her best facet in the game was what condemned her on hole 16. She hit with the driver and the ball opened up to go out of bounds, she had to hit from the tee the third shot and add a double bogey that hurt a lot. More damage was done by the three-putt on 17 when a putt of just one meter escaped her. However, Nelly’s greatness was seen when she recovered on the last hole with a great birdie with a putt of almost four meters. Almost without wanting to, a smile of relief escaped her. Three over par and a card of 75 strokes and tomorrow she only goes out two strokes from the lead. She is still very much in the fight and who knows if it is better for her to go out tomorrow in the penultimate match and a little further from the spotlight.
The one who will go out in the stellar match alongside Shin, is Lilia Vu (-6) who will seek to successfully defend last year’s title and add her third Major (Chevron Championship 2023). Since Yani Tseng, no one has managed to win the Open two years in a row. At times, Lilia’s round was twisting, but with three birdies in the last five flags, she has gotten back into the fight and will go out this Sunday just one stroke behind the Korean leader.
Three strokes from the lead and with serious chances of victory are Olympic champion Lydia Ko (-4) and Korean Shenny Jin (-4). One stroke further back are Alexa Pano (-3), Ruoning Yin (-3) and Jeeno Thitikul (-3).
In Solheim Cup key, the two great morning rounds of German Esther Henseleit (-2) and Swiss Albane Valenzuela (-2) have stood out. They handed in cards of 66 strokes, the best of the week at Saint Andrews. Henseleit, Olympic silver, already has her place assured in the Solheim, but Valenzuela is fighting for one of those four captain’s picks. Who knows if a round like this moving day has convinced Pettersen of the Swiss presence in Virginia next month. Alexandra Forsterling (+3), one of Valenzuela’s great rivals, is three over par after handing in a card of 71 strokes.
