LONDON, Ontario (AP) ― After dunking her ball in the water, Azahara Munoz later rebounded to shoot a 9-under 63 Saturday to vault into contention at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.
She’s tied with Choi Na-yeon in second place, four strokes behind Ryu So-yeon, who leads at 20 under going into the final round.
“The key of my round was on (hole No.) 4, I was going for it in two with a 4-iron and I hit in the water,” Munoz said. “But I kept it calm, I knew I could still make up and down for par, so I did, and after that everything just went my way.”
Except, perhaps, for Ryu, who didn’t drift back to the pack by shooting a 67. She’s looking to become the sixth wire-to-wire winner in this tournament’s history and the first since Michelle Wie in 2010.
She’s tied with Choi Na-yeon in second place, four strokes behind Ryu So-yeon, who leads at 20 under going into the final round.
“The key of my round was on (hole No.) 4, I was going for it in two with a 4-iron and I hit in the water,” Munoz said. “But I kept it calm, I knew I could still make up and down for par, so I did, and after that everything just went my way.”
Except, perhaps, for Ryu, who didn’t drift back to the pack by shooting a 67. She’s looking to become the sixth wire-to-wire winner in this tournament’s history and the first since Michelle Wie in 2010.
Munoz had six birdies on the back nine as part of a bogey-free round, tying the course record at London Hunt and Country Club that Ryu set Thursday. The 26-year-old Spainard felt as if she was doing “everything” right.
“I was driving the ball really well, and I was hitting really good iron shots into the greens,” Munoz said.
“I had so many chances. And then I made lots of putts, too ― I made a couple really long ones and quite a few shorter ones.”
As dazzling as Munoz’s round was, she still has some work to do to catch up to Ryu, who has been consistent through three rounds with 21 birdies and just one bogey.
Ryu is looking for her first victory since 2012.
“I haven’t won any tournaments the last two years,” the 24-year-old said. “If I’m going to win this tournament, I’m going to break that. I really want to break it, I really want to stop it.”
Ryu is on pace to snap the tournament record of 18 under set by Suzann Petterson in 2009 and is within range of the LPGA Tour record of 26 under, which belongs to Annika Sorenstam.
Day, Furyk tied for lead at Barclays
PARAMUS, New Jersey (AP) ― Jim Furyk doesn’t see another chance to fail, only another chance to win.
Seven times since Furyk last won at the 2010 Tour Championship, he has had at least a share of the 54-hole lead.
Seven times he has failed to convert.
He gave himself yet another opportunity Saturday with a bogey-free round of 2-under 69 that left him tied with Jason Day going into the final round at The Barclays.
Nervous? Motivated? Determined?
“Excited about one more opportunity,” Furyk said.
This one is not his to lose. It’s for just about everyone to win.
As steady as Furyk was on a cloudy Saturday at Ridgewood, Day was all over the place. He lost a ball in a mound of high grass and took double bogey on the par-5 13th, the third-easiest hole at Ridgewood in the third round. He took four shots to get down from a bunker on the par-5 17th for a bogey.
Each time, the Australian bounced back with one or more birdies. Day, who has made 13 birdies the past two days, wound up with a 68.
They were at 9-under 204. And they had a lot of company.
Fifteen players were separated by three shots going into the final round, an eclectic group that features players trying to get into the top 100 to advance to the second event in the FedEx Cup playoffs (Morgan Hoffmann, Bo Van Pelt, Gonzalo Fernandez Castano) to players with far more experience (Hunter Mahan, Matt Kuchar).
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Articles by Korea Herald