Before they were two of the young stars on the LPGA Tour, Nelly Korda and Brooke Henderson were frequent playing partners in junior golf events, often meeting with tournament titles on the line.
So today’s final grouping of the Lotte Championship will have a familiar feel — although the stakes will be considerably higher.
Henderson, the defending tournament champion, and Korda, making her Lotte debut, enter the final round at Ko Olina Golf Club tied atop a tight leaderboard at 14 under and will share final-group honors with 2016 champion Minjee Lee today at noon.
“Obviously it’s pretty cool,” Korda said after her round of 1-under-par 71 on Friday. “We played, gosh, I think we were both like 13 when we first started playing together. It’ll be a cool flashback, final pairing, final day.”
Following their ascent through the junior ranks, Henderson and Korda turned pro as teenagers and soon began adding professional trophies to their amateur accolades.
Separated by a little more than 10 months in age, Henderson, 21, and Korda, 20, will play in a final group together for the first time as tour members. But this is far from a private duel.
Henderson and Korda bogeyed Ko Olina’s tough finishing hole on Friday to bring Lee and Eun-Hee Ji, the 36-hole leader, to within a shot at 13 under.
Ariya Jutanugarn, a former world No. 1 and reigning Rolex player of the year, began the day nine shots behind Ji but rose into contention by posting the low round of the day at 6-under 66 to enter today’s play alone in fifth at 12 under.
“It’s still a really packed leaderboard,” said Henderson, who finished Friday’s round at 3-under 69. “So right now it’s hard to say what that number is going to be. Kind of all just depends just on the wind. … Really, anything can happen.”
When the third round opened, it appeared the tournament’s 54-hole record of 17 under par set by Su-Yeon Jang in 2017 wouldn’t survive the afternoon. But conditions have grown progressively worse since the field torched the defenseless course on Wednesday. Ji set the 36-hole record at 15 under on Thursday.
Ji appeared poised to put some distance on the field with birdies on the par-5 fifth and par-4 sixth to move to 16 under and three shots ahead of Korda and Lee. But she missed five of the next six greens and the wedges that produced three chip-ins on Thursday left her with lengthy par putts that came up wanting in a run of three consecutive bogeys midway through the round. She ended the day at 2-over 74, yet just one shot out of the lead.
Henderson was plodding along at even par through her front nine before getting a jolt with back-to-back birdies after the turn. She took the solo lead on the par-5 13th despite putting her drive into a fairway bunker. After laying up and leaving her third shot just off the green, Henderson elected to putt it through the fringe with the pin just 3 feet from the edge. Her putt curled to the left and found the cup to push her ahead at 14 under.
“The bottom line is I made birdie, which is great. Just kind of had to do it the hard way,” she said.
Korda, playing in the group behind, shook off some putting issues on the front side by rolling in a 15-footer for birdie on the par-3 12th to get to 13 under. She added another birdie on the par-5 14th and a 6-footer on the par-3 16th to pull even with Henderson, who had remained hot to reach 15 under.
Korda said she might glance at scoreboards around the course during such a tight race, although more so when her sister, Jessica, is in the field. Otherwise …
“Just trying to play my game. If I sneak into the top spot, great. There are still 18 more holes left and a lot can happen,” she said. “The weather is unpredictable. The wind swirls and gusts, so it’ll be an interesting day. We’re all going to be fighting.”
Lee, ranked fourth in the world, chipped in for eagle on No. 5, then strung together 13 consecutive pars to pick up ground by holding steady. She has experience playing from behind at Lotte. Lee was five shots back entering the final round in 2016 before finishing with an 8-under 64 to capture the second of her four career titles.
“I think I’m maybe a few behind, maybe one behind the leaders, so I guess I’m in a position to be pretty aggressive,” Lee said after signing for a 2-under 70. “Hopefully I can play well. I mean, at the end of the day I just want to go out there and feel like I tried my best. That’s pretty much my goal.
“Obviously, (it would) be nice to be able to hold this trophy at the end of the day.”
