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KAWAGOE, Japan – Nelly Korda had to work for pars instead of birdies as a routine, and the 23-year-old American has done well enough to keep her distance in the pursuit of an Olympic golf medal .
Korda saved par with a 5-foot putt on the 17th hole, then moved up and down from behind on the 18th with a nice 4-foot pitch to finish with 12 straight pars for a 2-under 69.
She had a three-stroke lead over India’s Aditi Ashok, who is near the bottom of the 60-man squad in driving distance and near the top in sheer determination. She had a 68.
And for now, there will be a final round.
Olympic golf officials plan to start playing as early as possible on Saturday and take advantage of a window they hope large enough to squeeze through 72 holes before a tropical storm arrives in the forecast.
Korda sighed as his final putt fell. It was a day when her swing was off and she managed to keep it at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
When asked what made her happiest in the midst of such a fight, she replied, “Probably my fight.”
“I didn’t have a really good nine back. I was spraying it all over the place. I had some tough putts,” Korda said. “But I did all the runs and fought really hard to stay really in the game, or ahead.”
Korda was 15 and under 198 as she tried to add a gold medal to a year in which she won her first major and reached world No.1.
Behind her, another fight was announced for the bronze. Mone Inami of Japan, who had the honor of hitting the opening tee shot, missed a 7-foot putt on the last hole for a 68. She was five strokes behind in a tie at four for the third with Lydia Ko from New Zealand. (66), Hanna Green from Australia (67) and Emily Kristine Pedersen from Denmark (70).
Inami said he spoke briefly to Hideki Matsuyama, who was eliminated in a seven-man tournament for bronze in the men’s tournament.
“He said that because he couldn’t win the medal in the men, he wished us luck in the women,” she said.
The scenario was very different from last week with the men’s competition, when eight players were separated by four shots before the final round. Outside of Ashok, the players closest to Korda were five shots behind.
One of them was Ko, the silver medalist from Rio de Janeiro, who mentioned how Minjee Lee came back from seven behind on the final day to win the Evian Championship two weeks ago for her first major in the LPGA.
“You can never give up. I think the number of shots back doesn’t matter,” Ko said. “Rory Sabbatini shot 10 under on the last day of last week to become the silver medalist. . Sometimes I don’t think you can get by. “
At least there is a reasonable chance. For a short time, it looked like Korda might turn this into a runaway. She quickly increased her lead to five shots, opening with three birdies in six holes. She had an 80-yard corner for her third on the eighth par-5.
But she hit a clunker, and it came down from a ridge about 50 feet away. Korda came 10 feet short and putts three for a bogey. So far, she had birdied every par 5 this week.
“There’s something about me when I bug a par 5 that frustrates me because I shouldn’t be doing that,” Korda said. “But I kept telling myself that there were more opportunities to come.”
She just didn’t capitalize on them. His last birdie of the day came on the sixth hole.
Ashok stayed close even after a bunker bogey on the number 9 and a three-putt bogey of about 60 feet on the 11th hole.
She made birdie putts 18 feet on the 15th hole and 15 feet on the 17th hole, and her nervous par on the 18th kept her within reach of Korda, with high hopes of a medal.
“One more day of golf and a lot happens on the last day,” said Ashok. “Sometimes on the last day, even if it’s just a round, it seems mentally long. So definitely stay patient, and hope we have a good weather and hope I play well tomorrow.”
Regarding her driving distance, Ashok said she contracted COVID-19 in May and June and therefore her strength was not the same initially.
“I’ve never been so small,” Ashok said. “I was still small but not like 50 behind Nelly and 50 behind Nanna [Koerstz Madsen]. “
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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