For Georgian Katie Burnett the Ko Olina Golf Club is beginning to feel a lot like, well, home.
The 54-hole leader entering today’s final round, she had her best LPGA finish to date, a tie for ninth, here in 2014. The turf and wind remind her of home. “I live on the coast, so I’m used to it,” said Burnett, who is from Brunswick, Ga.
In addition, her brother, Ben, is in the Navy and stationed at Pearl Harbor.
“It is awesome to have family out here and people who are here to watch and my niece running around giving me high-fives and cheering for me,” Burnett said.
Growing up, she said, “I did everything he did as a kid. I followed him around, basically.”
Even to a Boys and Girls Club clinic that helped get her started in golf.
“He played golf, so I decided to do it. He was a point guard in basketball, (so) I was a point guard in basketball. He was a pitcher, (so) I was a pitcher in softball.”
Ko trailing the pack
Inbee Park’s distinction as the last player to win three straight LPGA Tour events appears safe for now.
Lydia Ko arrived at Ko Olina this week with a shot at matching Park’s 2013 run after winning the Kia Classic and ANA Inspiration. The world’s top-ranked player will begin the final round well behind the leaders at 2 under for the tournament and tied for 32nd.
Ko had three birdies on Friday and closed the day with a bogey on No. 18 for a 1-under 71. She’s hovered around par all three rounds so far and has just one round in the 60s in 11 at Ko Olina, a 66 in the final round in 2013.
Ko is the defending champion at next week’s Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic in San Francisco.
Kongkraphan makes a move
With Moriya Jutanugarn in contention through three rounds, P.K. Kongkraphan added another Thai flag on the leaderboard with a 7-under 65, matching In Gee Chun for the low round of the day. She’ll begin today’s round tied for sixth.
Kongkraphan had missed the cut in her previous three starts and got off to a rough start this week with a 74 on Wednesday. She got above the cut line with a 69 in the second round and shot into the top 10 with a bogey-free round on Friday. She birdied three straight holes from 12 to 14 and added another on 17 to move to 8 under.
Inside the numbers
For the second straight day, the hardest hole on the course was the par-4 second with a scoring average of 4.178. The hole had only one birdie by Megan Khang (70), 58 pars and 14 bogeys among the 73 golfers who survived to compete in Friday’s third round.
The easiest hole was the par-5 fifth with a scoring average of 4.726. There were 26 birdies, 42 pars, four bogeys and one double bogey by Saden Parks (74). The scoring average for the tournament was the lowest of the week at 71.163. There was only one eagle in the round and that was at the par-5 13th by Chun.
