Jessica Korda started her third round of the Hugel-Air Premia LA Open on Friday with three consecutive birdies, stretching her three-shot lead to six.
It started to look like a runaway in the making.
But then Jin Young Ko got it going and after she made a birdie on 13, she had the lead and would later go up two.
Ko had four bogeys on her Friday scorecard, including on the 18th hole, but she recorded nine birdies at Wilshire Country Club near downtown Los Angeles to put herself into position to win for the first time since the 2020 CME Group Tour Championship, an event the No. 1-ranked player in the world qualified for after just three starts.
Korda, meanwhile, is seeking her seventh LPGA victory and second this season after opening the year with a win at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in January.
Hugel-Air Premia LA Open: Leaderboard
Korda rallied with three birdies on her last four holes, including the final two, to shoot a 68 to get to 16 under. She’s up one on Ko, who shot a 66 and is at 15 under.
Brooke Henderson birdied Nos. 15, 16 and 17 and had a six-footer for another one on the last but missed. Nonetheless, she is in solo third at 12 under. Angela Stanford shot a 68 Friday and is in solo fourth at 11 under. So Yeon Ryu and Hannah Green are tied for fifth.
Morgan Pressel matched Ko’s low round of 66 on Friday. Pressel birdied four out of five holes down the stretch before making her lone bogey on the 18th. Still, she is tied for seventh with Tiffany Chan heading to the final round.
.@mpressel said she was going to make a lot of birdies for her caddie’s birthday.
Six birdies later and she’s T3.
Watch now on @GolfChannel! pic.twitter.com/MtO33LcAcF
— LPGA (@LPGA) April 23, 2021
The LA Open started Wednesday; the 72-hole event will conclude with the final round on Saturday. The LPGA has tournaments on consecutive weeks in Singapore and Thailand starting next week.