BELLEAIR, Fla. — Nelly Korda made two long birdie putts to begin recovering from a six-shot deficit against Charley Hull, cutting the lead to one shot Saturday before the final round of The Annika.
Hull held on to the lead by limiting the damage to a bogey on the 18th hole at Pelican Golf Club after hitting the water after a long wait that saw them finish in near darkness. That gave him a 2-under 68.
Korda was about to take the lead into a tie when she reached the tricky 18th green about 30 feet away. Her birdie putt down the slope and with the grain toward the water still flowed 4 feet, and she missed the par putt and shot 67.
Both are among the fastest players on the LPGA. Neither of them were happy with how it ended.
“It’s a little difficult when you can’t really see. I think it was a little bit of poor planning starting so late for us,” Korda said. “Anytime you’re sitting around on the 18th and the sun’s already set, I mean, it’s never nice. And especially with how smooth these greens are and you can’t see properly, I mean, obviously there are two factors that come into play as well.
“In the end, it was me who missed it.”
Hull was at 12-under 198, a shot ahead of Korda and Zhang Weiwei, who finished much earlier with a 62. Zhang is No. 106 in the CME Globe race and must finish in the top 100 to maintain a card complete LPGA. for next year.
The weekend looked like a duel between Korda, the No. 1 player in women’s golf and LPGA Player of the Year, and the happy-go-lucky Hull. This is what the final round looks like, although it certainly didn’t start out that way.
Korda, who started Saturday two shots behind, made two bogeys in his first four holes and failed to birdie the par-5 seventh. Hull made two birdies to extend his lead over Korda to six shots , and Hull had a four-shot lead at one point.
Korda made a super-smooth 45-foot birdie putt on the eighth hole, and followed that up with another smooth shot to make a birdie putt from about 35 feet on No. 9.
The American star continued to get closer, hitting his approach to 2 feet on the 11th and making a 10-foot birdie putt on the 16th. Korda hit a wedge to 4 feet on the 17th, and Hull responded with a wedge to 3 feet for matching birdies.
They also faced bogeys at the end in near darkness because of the pace and time it took them to manage the fast greens and, in some cases, get decisions.
Hull grounded and rolled down the bank into the water. She went about 6 feet and made the putt for bogey, only for Korda to triple putt for bogey.
“My putt, I could barely see the hole,” Hull said. “I couldn’t see the break or anything. So it was quite dark to finish.
Alexa Pano, playing in the final group, never recovered from three consecutive early bogeys and shot a 72 that not only knocked her seven shots back, but also took her out of the top 60 in the race for the CME Globe.
The top 60 after this week advance to the CME Group Tour Championship, where the winner of the season finale receives a $4 million prize.
The top 60 and the top 100 are the key figures for the penultimate tournament. Zhang probably won’t be able to break into the top 60 with a win, but keeping his card is key. She made nine birdies and will be in the final group with Korda and Hull.
“I just felt like it was an amazing day,” Zhang said.
Germany’s Olivia Cowan scored 65 and was in sixth place, four shots behind. She is No. 116 in the points standings and must maintain her position to narrowly retain her card.
