Carlota Ciganda (-5) continued on Saturday exactly where she left off on Friday, climbing towards the top of the leaderboard and putting pressure on those ahead. For now, she has managed to get into the top 10 of the tournament with one round left that will be longer than usual.
Play could not be completed this Saturday due to a tremendous storm that hit The Woodlands in Houston, forced the suspension of play shortly before three in the afternoon local time and did not allow a return. It poured heavily. We are therefore left with a Sunday where the leaders will have to play almost a round and a half and Carlota, for example, will face 21 holes. Provided, of course, there are no further suspensions.
The situation is as follows: Thai Atthaya Thitikul (-11) leads the tournament after 12 holes with a one-stroke lead over Brooke Henderson (-10), who has played 17, and Nelly Korda (-10), who stayed at 11. Three golfers separated by a single stroke and a great protagonist of Saturday, Canadian Henderson, author of an extraordinary round of eight under par with one hole left, with an unheard-of nine under between holes 4 and 14. Eyewitnesses assure that they saw her levitate…
They are the three big favourites to win at this moment, although there is still a lot of tournament left and the classification is by no means broken. Korean Jin Hee Im (-9) is only two strokes behind, American Lauren Coughlin (-8) and Korean Hae Ran Ryu (-8) are three behind and Chinese Weiwei Zangh (-7) is four behind.
In no case should Carlota be ruled out of the fight for victory. The Navarrese is six strokes off the lead with many holes still ahead. It is true that she needs to do a Henderson this Sunday to really opt for victory, but the options are there and she has created them herself with a super comeback after a bad initial round.
Today Carlota has continued to push, brave, aggressive and ambitious, as she feels most comfortable on the course. She started with two birdies on the first two holes shouting here I am and continued with two more on holes 8 and 11. Only a bogey on 12 made her lose some momentum, although she still has three holes to complete the third round where she can still scratch a stroke. Anything that comes out to four-five strokes to the last 18 holes would be almost a feat in view of how the tournament started.
Carlota has been spectacular today from the tee, catching practically all the fairways, and very fine in the shots to green. It’s safety golf, playstation style, the kind where it seems almost impossible to miss a shot. We’ll see if she can continue on Sunday and if the putter accompanies her. If so, a lot can still happen and Carlota could become one of the great animators of the final day.
Play will resume at eight in the morning local time, seven hours more in mainland Spain, and it is estimated that the fourth round, if all goes well, will start at ten in the morning, also Houston time.
Live results of the Chevron Championship 2024
