The third round of a golf tournament is always known as moving day -- and the third round of the women’s Olympic golf tournament was exactly that for the world’s best player.
Olympic golf 2016 leaderboard: Lydia Ko, Gerina Piller move into final grouping after difficult day in Rio
One day changed everything but the leader in Rio -- where second-round stars Stacy Lewis and Brooke Henderson stumbled, while the world’s top player and America’s Gerina Piller surged to the top.
Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
After a sputtering, nondescript start to the event, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko vaulted into the final pairing of the tournament on Saturday morning with a 6-under 65, good for the lowest round of what was a difficult day on the Gil Hanse track. An ace on the par-3 eighth hole, along with four other birdies on the front nine took Ko out in 29 -- and put her easily in shouting distance of a 62, considering the achievable finishing stretch. But shifting winds kicked up on her back nine, stringing off 9 pars in a row to finish her round -- still plenty good enough for the round of the day.
#CHN's Xiyu Lin & #NZL's Lydia Ko both hit a hole-in-one on the 8th hole on the same day. https://t.co/5qbXjgsAm1 https://t.co/mPA7HPQAAo
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) August 19, 2016
Ko wasn’t the only player to use a hot front nine to push to the top of the leaderboard, either. American Gerina Piller fired a front-nine 5-under 31 to tie leader Inbee Park for a period in the middle of the round, before stumbling with a bogey at the par-5 18th. Her third straight round in the 60s will have her playing alongside Park and Ko in the final three tomorrow.
Of course, it’s South Korea’s Park (-11) that’s looked better than anyone for the majority of the tournament. A 1-under round of 70 was plenty enough to protect her lead that she’s been sleeping on since Thursday evening. There’s a possibility of a medal sweep for South Korea, too. Her teammates Amy Yang and In Gee Chun are tied for 5th at -5, just four shots out of the bronze medal position.
Saturday didn’t go as well for some of the stars of the tournament’s first two rounds, however. After making a hard charge with brilliant rounds on Thursday, Canada’s Brooke Henderson and America’s Stacy Lewis fell off the pace in the windy conditions with rounds of 75 and 76, respectively. But at least they’ll have an outside chance of playing their way back on the medal stand on Saturday -- first round leader and world No. 2 Ariya Jutanugarn (Thailand) withdrew from the tournament after an injury.
Here’s how the leaderboard looks heading into Saturday morning’s final round.
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