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…
