Stupples goes long

Karen Stupples hit a drive 405 yards on the fifth hole — one of two the LPGA uses for driving distance average — in Thursday’s blasts of wind. She shot 77 and missed the cut, but Stupples kept her sense of humor and even hinted she might have had a little cart-path help.

"I had 140 left for my second (shot)," Stupples wrote in a text. "But ball had a small scuff on it :))."

The fifth hole is 528 yards. Stupples, from England, averaged nearly 300 yards in driving distance that day.

Feng makes a move

Shanshan Feng made a big jump in the final round Saturday, carding a 7-under 65 to move up from tied for 24th entering the day to tied for seventh.

I.K. Kim also shot 7 under, tying her with Feng for second-best round of the day behind Lizette Salas‘ torrid 10-under 62.

Feng credited her approach shots for a fast start.

"My iron shots were really on fire," she said. "On the first five holes I got everything within 6 feet."

That translated into four birdies on those holes, and she added three more later in the bogey-free round.

It takes 2 to tango

It took Kristy McPherson one swing to make up for back-to-back bogeys.

McPherson was 3 over par Saturday after bogeys on holes 4 and 5 when she stepped up to the ball for her second shot on No. 6, some 124 yards away from the green.

She sent the ball toward the pin with an easy 9-iron. It took one hop, then disappeared into the cup for eagle.

"It was much needed on a day like today," said McPherson, who finished at 1-over 73 and even par for the tournament. "It was nice I didn’t have to putt."

McPherson played with Michelle Wie and Azahara Munoz, who alternated birdies and pars to shoot 31 on Ko Olina’s front nine. Munoz tied for second in last year’s tournament and made a big jump up the leaderboard with a bogey-free 66.

And it wasn’t the only 2 from the fairway. Salas also managed an eagle 2 at No. 10. Standing near the water that guards the right side of the fairway, Salas’ 6-iron from 169 was steady and true from the outset. It landed about 7 feet below the hole and rolled right in to put her into contention. She lost to eventual champ Suzann Pettersen in a playoff.

Inside the numbers

Salas eagled the hardest hole on the course and still lost in a playoff. Despite her miraculous iron play from the right rough, the par-4 10th remained not only the most difficult hole of the day, but for the tournament as well.

The scoring average for Saturday was 4.234 and 4.328 for the 72-hole event. There were only 11 birdies for the day and 40 for the round.

There were also 26 double bogeys for the event and four of the dreaded "other" of plus-three or more.

The easiest hole for the day was the par-5 14th, with a scoring average of 4.558. There were two eagles and 35 birdies, and only three bogeys and one double.

The easiest hole for the week was the par-5 fifth, with a scoring average of 4.753. There were seven eagles and 143 birdies for the week, with only two doubles and one of plus three or better.

The scoring average for the final round was a blistering 70.466, the lowest of the four. The scoring average for the week was 72.234.