Demonstrating the perils of Erin Hills' 15th green
Much of the U.S. Women's Open field struggled with the treacherous 15th green at Erin Hills Golf Course on Saturday. Watch those lowlights before Mel Reid demonstrates what made the putting surface so tricky.
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USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Nelly Korda calls hole locations at unrelenting KPMG Women's PGA 'almost impossible'
FRISCO, Texas – The KPMG Women's PGA Championship blew by its television window by just over an hour. Coverage moved from NBC Sports to Peacock, and with American star Lexi Thompson in contention midway through her back nine and two-time major winner Minjee Lee on top of the board, it marked another missed opportunity for the LPGA. There were no weather delays. Play at Fields Ranch East started at 6:37 a.m. in twosomes, and it took world No. 1 Nelly Korda, one of the fastest players on tour, 3 hours and 9 minutes to play the front nine – in a twosome. During a long wait on the drivable par-4 seventh, Ruoning Yin sat underneath her sun umbrella and told her caddie, David Jones, that she wanted to go to sleep. 'I'll wake you up,' he replied. With winds gusting more than 35 mph and feels-like temperatures approaching 100, it was a taxing day from start to finish. Sunday is forecast to bring more of the same, so officials are sending players out in threesomes. When asked what could be done to improve pace of play, Korda said that in these conditions, it's too hard to hold the greens. 'The hole locations are kind of in almost impossible positions,' said Korda, 'where not many people are hitting the greens, so obviously it's going to take a lot more time.' Fields Ranch built to house championships The Home of the PGA of America was built to host major championships. The PGA Championship will be contested here in 2027, and the KPMG Women's PGA will return in 2031. The men's event will be held a full month earlier, however, which should yield softer, cooler conditions. Given the makeup of a typical LPGA gallery and volunteer base – families with young children and seniors – moving away from this summer heat is certainly a topic of conversation this week. U.S. Women's Open dates have shifted of late between late May and early July. The dates for the 2031 USWO at Oakland Hills Country Club have yet to be decided, so there's a chance that something could change. Locals suggest hosting nothing here in the summer past June 1. Lauren Coughlin was packing up her golf travel bag by the clubhouse as the final groups were making the turn. Coughlin, a two-time winner on the LPGA, noted that the cut was actually higher at the 2024 U.S. Women's Open at Lancaster Country Club (8 over), but there weren't many complaints about setup outside of the 12th hole on Thursday. 'Lancaster was very difficult, and it demanded a lot,' said Coughlin, 'but if you hit good golf shots you were rewarded. I think you can hit good golf shots out here and not be rewarded, and that's the difference.' Stacy Lewis told Golfweek on Friday that the course was 'making very good players look silly' and attributed the slow play to setup. Scoring average at KPMG is highest in a decade The scoring average on Saturday was 76.065, the highest major championship round in a decade on the LPGA. The opening par 5 ranked hardest, and, according to LPGA stats guru Justin Ray, its 5.603 average is the highest scoring average on an opening hole in the last 30 years on tour. There were only three birdies on the day and one triple-bogey, posted by Thompson, who, incredibly, managed to play the rest of the round in even par. Charley Hull carded one of only three birdies on the par-4 sixth hole Saturday. When asked if she took some satisfaction in that, Hull said her 1-over 73 over the Gil Hanse design felt solid. 'Just one of those golf courses that, I don't know, like it can be a bit tricky with the rough, and then the way that they designed a few holes, when the prevailing winds are downwind, you can't stop it anyway, and then you need to bump it in, but you can't bump it in because of the kind of grass that it is," said Hull, referring to the Northbridge Bermuda. 'I don't know, it's just like a golf course design that makes it so tricky.' Only two holes averaged below par, the reachable par-5 ninth and the drivable par-4 15th. Officials had to switch the ninth and 18th holes for this championship to make room for hospitality. The 2023 Senior PGA ended on a reachable par 5. The 18th this week, however, has had more double bogeys over the course of three rounds (22) than birdies (15). Crews trying to keep greens softer Officials say the greens have been watered every night and morning due to the extreme heat and high winds and will be watered once again this evening. There were six holes on Saturday in which less than 40 percent of the field hit the green in regulation. Startling given that the tour average is 68.8 percent for the season. Nelly Korda hit nine greens in regulation in the third round and is averaging 63 percent for the week, 11 percent less than her 2025 average. Minjee Lee posted the only bogey-free day of the round so far this week on Saturday, a 3-under 69, and carries a four-shot lead into the final round over Jeeno Thitikul, the best player on tour without a major. They're the only two players under par for the tournament. Thompson trails by seven and Korda by eight. When the Senior PGA was held here in May 2023, shortly after the golf course opened, Steve Stricker and Padraig Harrington went into a playoff after finishing knotted at 18 under. Conditions were softer and cooler with less wind, miles away from what the LPGA's best have experienced this week, and more in line with the PGA Championship field will likely see in two years. 'The thing is, it's so hard for us to speak out, because I feel like then people are going to think that we're whining,' Korda told Golfweek after the round, 'but the men, their apex is so much higher, so when they do land it on the green, they can do more with it, at the end of the day. 'Our apexes only get so high, and they only can get so high in 35 mph wind. If there's 35 mph gusts, then it's so hard for us to actually float it into these greens because you're trying to penetrate through the wind and not have the ball blow all over the place. 'It is a major championship, and it should play hard. I think 100 percent it should play hard. But good shots need to also be rewarded, and I feel like you're always on defense right now.'
San Francisco Chronicle
5 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Minjee Lee has 1st bogey-free round at windy Women's PGA to take 4-shot lead into final day
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Two-time major champion Minjee Lee took over the lead with the first bogey-free round for anyone during a windy week at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, a 3-under 69 in the third round Saturday to move four strokes ahead of Jeeno Thitikul. Lee got to 6-under 210 after beginning the round three strokes behind Thitikul, the world's No. 2-ranked player who led alone at the end of each of the first two days. Lee, the Australian who lives in nearby Irving, went in front with a 2-foot par at the 405-yard 12th hole when Thitikul had her second consecutive bogey, and fourth of the day on way to a round of 76. Far from tree-lined Sahalee outside Seattle where the Women's PGA was last year, Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco is much more open and exposed to the ever-present Texas wind that was the strongest it had been all week. There were gusts of more than 30 mph Saturday, with much the same forecast for the final round. Temperatures were again in the mid-90s. Nelly Korda, the world's top-ranked player, described the conditions as 'just brutal' after her round of 72 that began with back-to-back bogeys but ended with two birdies down the stretch. She had five birdies and five bogeys and is tied for sixth at 2-over 218. Lee and Thitikul were the only players still under par. Lexi Thompson (75), after a triple-bogey start, was tied for third at 1 over with Hye Jin Choi (72) and Miyu Yamashita (73). Thitikul had the only birdie Saturday among the 78 players on the 172-yard, par-3 eighth hole, which generally plays downwind and where only 29% of the tee shots all week have stayed on the green. That 13-foot birdie was her first of the day and got her to 5 under, two strokes ahead of Lee. But Thitikul's lead was gone after back-to-back bogeys on the back side. She pushed a 4-foot par chance past the hole at the 383-yard 11th, her first miss inside 5 feet this week. Then her drive at the 417-yard 12th hole went way right into a penalty area, and Lee went ahead to stay. Lee, who won the 2022 U.S. Women's Open and 2021 British Women's Open, was steady Saturday with eight consecutive pars before a 4-foot birdie at the 487-yard ninth hole. Her other birdies were an 18-footer at the 515-yard, par-5 14th and a 1 1/2-foot at the bunker-surrounded 236-yard par 4 15th hole. Thitikul had her third bogey in a four-hole stretch when three-putting from 50 feet at No. 14. Semi-retired Thompson, in the second-to-last group, hit her tee shot into the fairway on the 517-yard par-5 first hole, a 207-yard drive into the wind. But she topped her second shot that went only 117 yards, indicating to her caddie that the wind had her off balance, and then shanked her next shot right, a ball that was never found for a penalty on way to triple bogey. She followed with another bogey on the second hole, but had two birdies and only one bogey the rest of the way. Thompson, playing for only the seventh time in 16 tournaments this season, won her only major in the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship, but her 13 top-five finishes in majors since 2013 are the most by any player and among her 20 top-10 finishes in those events. LPGA rookie Rio Takeda opened with a bogey 6 at the first hole after starting the round tied with with Lee for second place. Takeda later had a pair of double bogeys, including the 315-yard par-4 7th hole where her drive wound up in the upper face of a greenside bunker that left her with an awkward stance and unable to get the ball out on the first try. Grace Kim had the best round of the day with a 68 that included six birdies and two bogeys, moving up from a tie for 68th to tied for 10th. Minjee Lee and Andrea (71) had the only other under-par rounds. Kim, among the 11 players who got to the weekend right on the 7-over cut, teed off at 6:55 a.m. local time, six hours before the final group of Thitikul and Lee went off the first hole.
Hamilton Spectator
5 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Minjee Lee has 1st bogey-free round at windy Women's PGA to take 4-shot lead into final day
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Two-time major champion Minjee Lee took over the lead with the first bogey-free round for anyone during a windy week at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, a 3-under 69 in the third round Saturday to move four strokes ahead of Jeeno Thitikul. Lee got to 6-under 210 after beginning the round three strokes behind Thitikul, the world's No. 2-ranked player who led alone at the end of each of the first two days. Lee, the Australian who lives in nearby Irving, went in front with a 2-foot par at the 405-yard 12th hole when Thitikul had her second consecutive bogey, and fourth of the day on way to a round of 76. Far from tree-lined Sahalee outside Seattle where the Women's PGA was last year, Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco is much more open and exposed to the ever-present Texas wind that was the strongest it had been all week. There were gusts of more than 30 mph Saturday, with much the same forecast for the final round. Temperatures were again in the mid-90s. Nelly Korda, the world's top-ranked player, described the conditions as 'just brutal' after her round of 72 that began with back-to-back bogeys but ended with two birdies down the stretch. She had five birdies and five bogeys and is tied for sixth at 2-over 218. Lee and Thitikul were the only players still under par. Lexi Thompson (75), after a triple-bogey start, was tied for third at 1 over with Hye Jin Choi (72) and Miyu Yamashita (73). Thitikul had the only birdie Saturday among the 78 players on the 172-yard, par-3 eighth hole, which generally plays downwind and where only 29% of the tee shots all week have stayed on the green. That 13-foot birdie was her first of the day and got her to 5 under, two strokes ahead of Lee. But Thitikul's lead was gone after back-to-back bogeys on the back side. She pushed a 4-foot par chance past the hole at the 383-yard 11th, her first miss inside 5 feet this week. Then her drive at the 417-yard 12th hole went way right into a penalty area, and Lee went ahead to stay. Lee, who won the 2022 U.S. Women's Open and 2021 British Women's Open, was steady Saturday with eight consecutive pars before a 4-foot birdie at the 487-yard ninth hole. Her other birdies were an 18-footer at the 515-yard, par-5 14th and a 1 1/2-foot at the bunker-surrounded 236-yard par 4 15th hole. Thitikul had her third bogey in a four-hole stretch when three-putting from 50 feet at No. 14. Semi-retired Thompson, in the second-to-last group, hit her tee shot into the fairway on the 517-yard par-5 first hole, a 207-yard drive into the wind. But she topped her second shot that went only 117 yards, indicating to her caddie that the wind had her off balance, and then shanked her next shot right, a ball that was never found for a penalty on way to triple bogey. She followed with another bogey on the second hole, but had two birdies and only one bogey the rest of the way. Thompson, playing for only the seventh time in 16 tournaments this season, won her only major in the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship, but her 13 top-five finishes in majors since 2013 are the most by any player and among her 20 top-10 finishes in those events. LPGA rookie Rio Takeda opened with a bogey 6 at the first hole after starting the round tied with with Lee for second place. Takeda later had a pair of double bogeys, including the 315-yard par-4 7th hole where her drive wound up in the upper face of a greenside bunker that left her with an awkward stance and unable to get the ball out on the first try. Grace Kim had the best round of the day with a 68 that included six birdies and two bogeys, moving up from a tie for 68th to tied for 10th. Minjee Lee and Andrea (71) had the only other under-par rounds. Kim, among the 11 players who got to the weekend right on the 7-over cut, teed off at 6:55 a.m. local time, six hours before the final group of Thitikul and Lee went off the first hole. There was even a hole-in-one, Brianna Do acing the 150-yard fourth hole. It was the third in the last four years in the Women's PGA. ___ AP golf:
