World No 1 Nelly Korda is closing in on a sixth LPGA Tour victory in seven begins after taking a two-shot lead into the ultimate spherical of the Mizuho Americas Open in New Jersey.
Korda carded a seven-under 65 to maneuver to 13 underneath and two forward of Australia’s Hannah Inexperienced, who set a match file with a superb nine-under 63 at Liberty Nationwide Golf Membership.
After seeing Rose Zhang snap her tour record-tying five-tournament successful streak within the Cognizant Founders Cup final week, Korda posted seven birdies in a bogey-free spherical to bolster her hopes of returning to successful methods.
Korda posted three birdies in a front-nine 33 and added one other on the par-five tenth, then posted three extra in a four-hole stretch from the thirteenth to leap prime of the leaderboard.
“Really solid day of golf off the tee, into the greens, and putting, too,” Korda mentioned. “Took my chances where I could.”
Inexperienced, whose two wins make her the one different a number of winner on tour this yr, took benefit of the calm and dry morning circumstances to card six birdies in eight holes late in her spherical and guarantee a Sunday pairing with Korda.
“Yeah, felt very easy,” Inexperienced mentioned. “I guess I hit 17 greens and missed a few fairways, but actually hit it really close, so it was really nice to actually not have to stress about trying to make pars today. But it did feel like autopilot for a little bit there, which is very nice. So, yeah, now I put myself hopefully in contention for Sunday.”
Korda received 5 straight tournaments earlier this season to tie the file shared by Corridor of Famers Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05), earlier than ending tied-seventh in her final begin.
Ayaka Furue and Gabriela Ruffels shares third spot on 10 underneath forward of Sophia Popov, Jennifer Kupcho and Pajaree Anannarukarn, whereas England’s Charley Hull dropped out of competition after a three-over 75 dropped her to tied-51st.
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