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HOUSTON: No spectators. Two golf courses in play for the first rounds. A great championship two weeks before Christmas. Nothing about this US Women’s Open felt normal until Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
It was then that it became a routine that for so many years has defined this greatest event in women’s golf. The Champions Golf Club, long, smooth and splattered with mud, put a premium on par.
Hinako Shibuno did her best to endure.
The 22-year-old Japanese saw a four-shot lead shrink to a single shot as her par putt on the final hole slid through the cup for 3 out of 74. She still had the lead on such a difficult day, just two off 66 players broke the pair.
All the holes seemed to be very difficult for me, he said.
It was like that for almost everyone.
Amy Olson, who was about to hole out from 17th fairway and finished strong for a 71 who felt much lower, lost count of how often she had mud on her golf ball.
Stacy Lewis saw her chances of winning at her home course slip away with three consecutive putts, the second for a triple bogey on the 14th hole.
The following could be the hardest day yet.
The rain that soaked the course Friday night was expected throughout Sunday, and the Golf Association of the United States advanced the start times as soon as possible in hopes of crowning a champion.
Shibuno, who was on his second specialization in as many years, was 4 under 209 and headed to the practice range to classify his pilot, staying there until the setting sun cast long shadows.
I was very nervous myself, he said. When asked why a great champion with an endless smile and seemingly without a care in the world would be so nervous, Shibuno replied, because I was on top of everyone, because of that.
And she still is. Barely.
Moriya Jutanugarn, who was playing in the same group as her sister, two-time senior champion Ariya, was in the mix until she hit a bunker shot to the back of the 17th green and hit a triple for a double bogey. She still hit 72 and was three behind, among just four players who remained below par.
The other was Ji Yeong Kim2 from South Korea, who was at the opposite end of the field from Cypress Creek. Kim2 made the cut with a shot to spare and fired a 67, one of two rounds below par, that brought her to a tie for third place. Kim ended up contributing for a birdie on the ninth par 5 hole.
Shibuno is trying to become the third player to make the Major League its first two titles on the Professional Women’s Golf Association (LPGA) Tour. The others were In Gee Chun, who won the 2015 US Women’s Open and the 2016 Evian Championship, and Se Ri Pak, who won the 1998 LPGA Championship and the 1998 US Women’s Open. .
Shibuno won the Women’s British Open last year at Woburn, and she refused to accept LPGA membership because she didn’t think she was ready. Now his only way to join the LPGA is to win on Sunday, and it doesn’t seem like it’s easy.
Eight players were separated by four shots before the final round, a group that includes Lydia Ko (72) and Texas senior Kaitlyn Papp, who played in the final group with Shibuno and held firm until dropping two shots on the last three holes to 74. They were in par 213, along with Yealimi Noh, 19 years old (72) and Megan Khang (74).
Jin Young Ko, the world’s number one player and two-time major champion, made 16 pairs in her round of 71 and that was enough to at least give her a shot. She was 1 over 214 with PGA Women’s Champion Sei Young Kim (73).
They all had to contend with a field that played 6,635 yards and felt even longer due to heavy rain on Friday after the second round ended. More than long was the mud that accumulated on the golf ball in the fairway. That creates problems for Champions due to their huge greens.
When asked about mud, Olson laughed and replied, which one? There were about 18 of them.
At one point I laughed and thought, ‘Is he going to be on a divot or a ball of mud?’ Because it was one or the other most of the day, he said.
He made his best shot on the 17th, with an 8 iron, the same club, the same kind of shot for his hole-in-one in the first round, which was inches from going in. The tap-in birdie and a solid pair at last puts her in the bottom bracket as the 28-year-old from North Dakota tries to win for the first time.
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