Any eagle is always nice. But one on the par-5 14th hole this week is worth more than two strokes against par for this tournament. It is designated as the Aon Risk Reward Challenge hole of the week, which means each player’s best two scores on it are counted in a season-long competition. The player with the best cumulative score on these holes at the end of the season on both the LPGA and PGA tours wins a $1 million prize.
Alena Sharp wasn’t thinking about that when she carded her three on No. 14 on Thursday.
“I hit a good drive today and I went for the green and it hit the front and rolled off and I chipped it in,” she said. “So it was nice to chip it. I totally forgot it was the Aon Risk Reward hole, so that’s helpful.”
Sharp shot 6 under par for the day and is at 7 under for the tournament.
She has played on the LPGA Tour since 2005, but has yet to win a tournament. In 2017, Sharp was in contention for most of the Lotte before finishing fifth.
Amy’s ace
Amy Yang made a hole-in-one on No. 12, which played at 143 yards Thursday. Her 9-iron off the tee hit the green about 8 feet in front of the cup and rolled in.
It is the third ace on the LPGA Tour this season and the third of Yang’s LPGA career, which started in 2008. She said it is her fifth lifetime hole-in-one.
It put her at 5 under for the day and 8 under for the tournament. The four-time LPGA winner finished her round at 4-under 68, and is 7 under for the event.
Yang was happy to learn that $20,000 is donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital by LPGA sponsor CME for any hole-in-one during tournament play.
“Oh, that’s amazing,” she said. “Happy I can do something.”
Kim makes the cut
Maui-born Kyung Kim arrived at Kapolei’s ninth hole, her last of the day, knowing she needed one more birdie to extend her stay in the first event of her rookie season.
With Kim 2 under and one shot under the cut line, her approach shot from the fairway settled on the fringe behind the green about 12 feet from the pin, leaving her with a slick downhill putt. After conferring with caddie Tyler Ota, Kim gave it a roll and watched her birdie putt drop to end a roller-coaster round of even-par 72 and give her a third-round tee time today as part of a pack at 3 under.
After a bogey-free 69 on Wednesday, Kim birdied her first three holes on Thursday to get to 6 under. But bogeys on five of the next eight holes left her in jeopardy of missing the cut. She hit her approach on the sixth hole to 10 feet to set up a momentum-turning birdie and made her second LPGA Tour cut with her final stroke of the day.
“I just wanted to give myself opportunities and just put good strokes on it because I knew something would fall just because I’ve been putting well,” said Kim, who previously made the cut at the Bank of Hope Founders Cup in 2018.
Henderson makes it
Of the four past winners in the field, Sei Young Kim at 9 under and Brooke Henderson, the two-time reigning champion at 8 under, made the cut.
Minjee Lee at 2 under and Cristie Kerr at 1 under missed it.
Zhang hanging
Amateur Rose Zhang, a 17-year-old sponsor invitee, shot 68. She started strong with birdies on her first three holes and finished nearly as well with three on her four closing holes. She is at 9 under for the event.
“It just really helps when I watch these players and they’re playing out here as their daily life. It’s really cool to see,” Zhang said. “So I kind of just gain inspiration where I kind of tune in to what I’m doing and go with my game plan.”
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The Star-Advertiser’s Jason Kaneshiro contributed to this report
