After Brooke Henderson won the Hugel-Air Premia LA Open last week, she noted that she’s a firm believer that to get to the winner’s circle, it takes a certain number of good breaks.
“You know,” she said, “those breaks can be really small, or they can be really big.”
Should Lydia Ko go on to win the HSBC Women’s World Championship this week in Singapore, she’ll look back at her final shot on Saturday as a massive break. Ko’s approach into the par-4 18th landed just shy of the hole, banked off a ball that was already on the green and rolled into the cup for eagle.
Ko, unsure of what happened exactly, pointed down toward the ground as if to say, “Did that drop?”
ARE YOU KIDDING?1
Lydia Ko finishes with an eagle after this happened on 18! @HWWCGolf | @GolfChannel pic.twitter.com/bQo2ZgYF14
— LPGA (@LPGA) May 1, 2021
The closing eagle gave Ko a 3-under 69 and placed her four strokes back of leader Xiyu Lin heading into the final round. Lin, who is looking for her first LPGA title, paces the field at 14 under. Ko sits in a share of fifth with fellow major champs In Gee Chun and So Yeon Ryu.
“I hit a really good drive and then obviously with the pin being tucked on the right, nice to have a short club in and hit a good committed 50-degree,” said Ko, “and I hit it perfect.
“So nice to make an eagle and to do that on the last makes my life easier to finish this round. Lunch is going to taste great more so after that one.”
Ko’s playing competitor, Hannah Green, holed out for eagle with an 8-iron on the 10th.