Lotte Championship R3

Lotte Championship 2021 R3
April 14-17
Kapolei Golf Club, Oahu, Hawaii
$2,000,000
Round 1, Round 2, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Lydia Ko carded a third-round 65 to sit at 21-under rising to the top of the leaderboard heading into the final day at the LOTTE Championship. Her 195 sets the new tournament record, four strokes better than Su-Yeon Jang’s 199 in 2017. After getting off to a slow start, she carded only two birdies on her first seven holes, before kicking it into high gear in her final holes. The 23-year-old birdied four of her last five holes, maintaining her second-consecutive bogey-free round of the tournament.

Lotte Championship 2021 R3

“My front nine I didn’t get off to a fast compared to my other — well, the first two rounds, but I tried to stay patient and give myself good looks for birdies. I had a stretch in the middle of the front nine where I had really long putts for birdies. So just trying to not make stupid mistakes and kind of keep it in control.Nice to finish up the round with two birdies on the last two holes. This is a golf course where even though it’s windy it seems like everybody is playing so well, so you’re just trying to make your share of birdies,” said Ko. “I’ve just been having a lot of fun out here, and that’s kind of the mindset for tomorrow as well.”

Lotte Championship 2021 R3

Nelly Korda’s third-round 63 ties her career-low 18 holes. She birdied six of her opening nine holes, hitting every green in regulation on the front nine. Despite a bogey on the 10th, which Korda notes was due to her regretful tee shot, the 22-year-old finished strong with birdies in three of her last four holes. Korda returns to the final grouping at the LOTTE Championship just like in 2019 when she shared the 54-hole lead with eventual champion Brooke Henderson, but ultimately finished eighth at -9. This year, she’s looking to change the narrative as she goes for her second title of 2021.

“I just feel like it’s like home. Kind of the same grass, wind, you know, I just like the layout of the golf course. Hitting it close and making putts, you know, it’s going well so far this week, so hopefully I can keep it going for 18 more holes.”

Lotte Championship 2021 R3

The 36-hole leader Yuka Saso fell to third after starting her round with four bogeys and three birdies on her front nine. The 19-year-old mentally reset heading into the last nine holes, recording two more birdies to fire a 71 and finish at -17.

“When I don’t really play well or when I — when the thing doesn’t go my way I don’t really talk too much. You know, I’ve been trying to fix that. I’m trying to communicate with my caddie as much as can rather than just being quiet. Yeah, I think I did that well today,” said Saso.

Lotte Championship 2021 R3

Leona Maguire took advantage of moving day in her own right, setting a personal-best round of 65 to sit at 16-under. Amy Yang is six strokes back of leader Ko at 15-under, after firing her lowest round since the third round of the 2019 Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic (64).

“I was hitting the ball really solid out there and also putted so well. The hitting ball was very solid and I gave myself a lot of good chances, and at the same time putting was working well, so it was helping me like shooting low score today.”

Lexi Thompson, Hyo Joo Kim and 2015 LOTTE champion Sei Young Kim sit in a tie for sixth at 14-under, with seven players tied for ninth at 13-under, including major champion Hannah Greenand Tour winner Ally Ewing.

Lotte Championship 2021 R3

Pos.	Player	To Par	Scores	Total
1	Lydia Ko	-21	67-63-65	195
2	Nelly Korda	-20	65-68-63	196
3	Yuka Saso	-17	64-64-71	199
4	Leona Maguire	-16	68-67-65	200
5	Amy Yang	-15	69-68-64	201
T6	Lexi Thompson	-14	68-67-67	202
T6	Sei Young Kim	-14	67-68-67	202
T6	Hyo Joo Kim	-14	68-65-69	202
T9	Wei-Ling Hsu	-13	67-73-63	203
T9	Sarah Schmelzel	-13	69-69-65	203
T9	Hannah Green	-13	70-67-66	203
T9	Linnea Strom	-13	69-67-67	203
T9	Brittany Altomare	-13	64-71-68	203
T9	Ally Ewing	-13	65-69-69	203
T9	Luna Sobron Galmes	-13	69-64-70	203
T16	Georgia Hall	-12	70-68-66	204
T16	Nicole Broch Larsen	-12	68-70-66	204
T16	Inbee Park	-12	71-66-67	204
T16	Klara Spilkova	-12	69-68-67	204
T16	Brooke M. Henderson	-12	68-68-68	204
T16	A Lim Kim	-12	70-64-70	204
T16	So Yeon Ryu	-12	65-68-71	204
T23	Xiyu Lin	-11	69-72-64	205
T23	Matilda Castren	-11	71-69-65	205
T23	Caroline Masson	-11	74-65-66	205
T23	Esther Henseleit	-11	71-68-66	205
T23	Yealimi Noh	-11	69-70-66	205
T23	Hinako Shibuno	-11	68-71-66	205
T23	Austin Ernst	-11	69-68-68	205
T23	Danielle Kang	-11	68-69-68	205
T23	Yu Liu	-11	68-69-68	205
T23	Paula Reto	-11	69-67-69	205
T23	Mi Hyang Lee	-11	67-68-70	205
T23	Rose Zhang (a)	-11	67-68-70	205
T23	Brianna Do	-11	68-66-71	205
T36	Jennifer Chang	-10	72-69-65	206
T36	Lauren Coughlin	-10	70-69-67	206
T36	Jenny Shin	-10	69-70-67	206
T36	Angela Stanford	-10	69-70-67	206
T40	Su Oh	-9	73-68-66	207
T40	Kelly Tan	-9	72-69-66	207
T40	Mind Muangkhumsakul	-9	72-68-67	207
T40	Jeongeun Lee	-9	69-71-67	207
T40	Celine Herbin	-9	70-69-68	207
T40	Amy Olson	-9	69-68-70	207
T40	Jennifer Kupcho	-9	68-69-70	207
T40	In Gee Chun	-9	68-69-70	207
T40	Jessica Korda	-9	67-70-70	207
T40	Stacy Lewis	-9	66-70-71	207
T50	Mina Harigae	-8	71-70-67	208
T50	Tiffany Chan	-8	70-71-67	208
T50	Jeongeun Lee6	-8	69-72-67	208
T50	Pernilla Lindberg	-8	73-67-68	208
T50	Lizette Salas	-8	71-68-69	208
T50	Aditi Ashok	-8	69-69-70	208
T50	Alison Lee	-8	70-67-71	208
T50	Azahara Munoz	-8	69-68-71	208
T58	Haeji Kang	-7	69-72-68	209
T58	Na Yeon Choi	-7	69-72-68	209
T58	Chella Choi	-7	70-70-69	209
T58	Lindsey Weaver	-7	72-67-70	209
T58	Alena Sharp	-7	71-66-72	209
T63	Haley Moore	-6	70-71-69	210
T63	Louise Ridderstrom	-6	70-71-69	210
T63	Jillian Hollis	-6	70-69-71	210
T63	Anne van Dam	-6	68-70-72	210
T63	Stephanie Meadow	-6	67-70-73	210
T68	Jing Yan	-5	75-66-70	211
T68	Gerina Piller	-5	71-70-70	211
T68	Nasa Hataoka	-5	71-69-71	211
T68	Kristen Gillman	-5	70-70-71	211
T72	Dana Finkelstein	-4	73-68-71	212
T72	Giulia Molinaro	-4	72-69-71	212
T72	Anne-Catherine Tanguay	-4	72-69-71	212
T72	Kyung Kim	-4	69-72-71	212
76	Sarah Burnham	-2	70-68-76	214
	Ariya Jutanugarn	CUT	74-68	142
	Min Seo Kwak	CUT	74-68	142
	Elizabeth Szokol	CUT	73-69	142
	Nuria Iturrioz	CUT	71-71	142
	Minjee Lee	CUT	71-71	142
	Ssu-Chia Cheng	CUT	70-72	142
	Gabriela Ruffels	CUT	70-72	142
	Jiwon Jeon	CUT	75-68	143
	Cristie Kerr	CUT	73-70	143
	Brittany Lang	CUT	73-70	143
	Wichanee Meechai	CUT	73-70	143
	Pajaree Anannarukarn	CUT	72-71	143
	Cydney Clanton	CUT	72-71	143
	Eun-Hee Ji	CUT	72-71	143
	Haru Nomura	CUT	72-71	143
	Albane Valenzuela	CUT	72-71	143
	Cheyenne Woods	CUT	72-71	143
	Moriya Jutanugarn	CUT	71-72	143
	Cheyenne Knight	CUT	71-72	143
	Pornanong Phatlum	CUT	71-72	143
	Lindy Duncan	CUT	70-73	143
	Maria Fernanda Torres	CUT	70-73	143
	Katherine Kirk	CUT	69-74	143
	Muni He	CUT	68-75	143
	Bianca Pagdanganan	CUT	76-68	144
	Kim Metraux	CUT	73-71	144
	Perrine Delacour	CUT	71-73	144
	Maria Fassi	CUT	71-73	144
	Robynn Ree	CUT	71-73	144
	Pavarisa Yoktuan	CUT	77-68	145
	Dottie Ardina	CUT	75-70	145
	Sarah Jane Smith	CUT	75-70	145
	Ayako Uehara	CUT	75-70	145
	Lauren Kim	CUT	73-72	145
	Jasmine Suwannapura	CUT	73-72	145
	Lee Lopez	CUT	72-73	145
	Kendall Dye	CUT	71-74	145
	Gemma Dryburgh	CUT	76-70	146
	Jaclyn Lee	CUT	75-71	146
	Ashleigh Buhai	CUT	74-72	146
	Jennifer Song	CUT	74-72	146
	Caroline Inglis	CUT	73-73	146
	Yui Kawamoto	CUT	73-73	146
	Jacqui Concolino	CUT	71-75	146
	Jenny Coleman	CUT	69-77	146
	Kim Kaufman	CUT	76-71	147
	Ana Belac	CUT	75-72	147
	Daniela Darquea	CUT	75-72	147
	Lauren Stephenson	CUT	74-73	147
	Christina Kim	CUT	76-72	148
	Esther Lee	CUT	75-73	148
	Katherine Perry-Hamski	CUT	74-74	148
	Marissa Steen	CUT	74-74	148
	Youngin Chun	CUT	73-75	148
	Alana Uriell	CUT	73-75	148
	Ryann O’Toole	CUT	72-76	148
	Min Lee	CUT	78-71	149
	Mariah Stackhouse	CUT	78-71	149
	Tiffany Joh	CUT	76-73	149
	Yujeong Son	CUT	76-73	149
	Liz Nagel	CUT	75-74	149
	Emma Talley	CUT	77-73	150
	Linnea Johansson	CUT	75-75	150
	Andrea Lee	CUT	75-75	150
	Maia Schechter	CUT	77-74	151
	Yani Tseng	CUT	79-81	160
	Suzuka Yamaguchi	CUT	78-82	160
	Mo Martin	WD	77