Shibuno Survives Challenging Day at Champions; Leads by 1 After 54 Holes

Nobody said winning a U.S. Women’s Open is easy. It’s a 72-hole test of nerves, pressure, tough course conditions and one of the best fields in golf.

And when Mother Nature throws a curveball, the challenge only gets super-charged. A late Friday afternoon storm that dumped four-tenths of an inch of rain on Champions Golf Club turned Moving Day on Saturday into a day of survival.

Under-par scores on the 6,635-yard, par-71 Cypress Creek Course were about as scarce as a $2 bill. None of the 19 golfers who began Round 3 on Saturday in red figures managed to break par, including 36-hole leader Hinako Shibuno (74). By day’s end, only four players were in red figures through 54 holes: Shibuno (4-under 209), Round 1 leader Amy Olson (210), Moriya Jutanugarn (212) and Ji Yeong Kim2 (212).

In fact, only two of the 66 players who made the 36-hole cut broke 71 on Saturday: Hae Ran Ryu (70) and Kim2, a U.S. Women’s Open rookie who moved from a tie for 47th to a share of third after a bogey-free 67 that included a chip-in birdie on the par-5 ninth hole, her last of the day.

Changing weather conditions was the major story on Saturday. A damp, chilly and overcast morning morphed into sunshine by late afternoon. Players were also challenged by occasional mud on their balls from the wet fairways and a different wind from the first two rounds, which were contested on the club’s Cypress Creek and Jackrabbit courses due to the field size (156) and limited daylight.

After all the leader board volatility, Shibuno enters Sunday’s final round with a golden opportunity to win a second major in 16 months. Not bad for someone making her first U.S. Women’s Open start and competing in just her fifth major. The 22-year-old from Japan won the 2019 Women’s British Open at Woburn by shooting four rounds in the 60s.

That won’t happen this week after her 74 on Saturday. Yet the opportunity to become the first player from Japan to hoist the Harton S. Semple Trophy is very much within reach. Thirty-three years ago, Ayako Okamoto, a legend in Japan, was the last player from that golf-crazed country to carry a 54-hole lead into Sunday in this championship. She wound up losing a three-woman playoff in 1987 at Plainfield (N.J.) Country Club to Laura Davies (JoAnne Carner was the third player).

Nicknamed the “Smiling Cinderella” for her on-course demeanor and underdog disposition, Shibuno seems to possess the right mindset for tackling the heat of Sunday at a major. Even an opening-hole bogey didn’t faze her on Saturday. She would make three more while converting just one birdie putt on the par-5 fifth.

“I feel like it’s either a great poker face or she’s that smiling assassin,” said former world No. 1 and two-time major champion Lydia Ko, who is five strokes back. “I feel like I smile quite a lot out there, but I’m like pretty grumpy compared to her. You saw her at the British Open, I’m sure, going into that Sunday there might have been doubts, because not many people have heard of her compared to some other players. But she showed them who is boss and she’s clearly doing that right now.”

Added amateur Kaitlyn Papp, who was grouped with Shibuno: “Her demeanor was great. She was really neutral the whole day, never got too high or too low, depending upon how she did on a certain hole. I think that’s what impressed me the most about playing with her.”

Shibuno’s closer pursuer, however, is Olson, the 28-year-old Fargo, N.D., native seeking her first professional win. The 2009 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion rebounded from a second-round 72 on the Jackrabbit Course to card an even-par 71. This is the third time she will play in the final group of a major, following the 2018 ANA Inspiration and 2018 Evian Championship, where she double-bogeyed the 72nd hole to lose by one stroke to Angela Stanford.

Olson nearly made her second eagle of the week – she aced the par-3 16th on Thursday – with the same club (8-iron), stuffing her approach on the 386-yard 17th hole to within inches for a tap-in birdie.

“Obviously, your mental fortitude and perspective are extremely important and you can never get too high, you can never get too low,” said Olson. “I’ve definitely had some times of adversity already this week and I’m proud of how I’ve bounced back and just never given up.”

Moriya Jutanugarn, the older sister of 2018 champion Ariya Jutanugarn, would like to make some history on Sunday by making them the first siblings to win the U.S. Women’s Open. Brothers Willie and Alex Smith won the U.S. Open in 1899 and 1906/1910, respectively. Two other sets of sisters have captured USGA titles: Margaret and Harriot Curtis both won the U.S. Women’s Amateur, and World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Hollis Stacy (3 U.S. Women’s Opens/3 U.S. Girls’ Juniors) and Martha Leach (2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur).

Midway through her second nine, Jutanugarn, who played with Ariya and hometown favorite Stacy Lewis on Saturday, reached 4 under for the championship, only to bogey No. 14 and double-bogey 17.

“I’m pretty happy with how I played today, to be honest,” said Moriya. “For me it’s just like I got one bad break and just one bad hole and everything’s pretty solid. I just think like all the majors you have to be patient and just take it when you can.”

Kim2 would be the second consecutive player from the Republic of Korea with a numeral in her surname to win the title. The 24-year-old owns two victories on the LPGA Tour of Korea.

Besides Ko, 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion Yealimi Noh, Megan Khang and Papp are in the group that sits at even par, four back of Shibuno. Khang and Noh are seeking their first professional wins.

Notable

·       Because of projected inclement weather, the USGA has moved up the first starting time for Sunday’s final round to 7:45 a.m. CST. Play will once again go off the first and 10th tees with the last threesomes going off at 9:35 a.m. Golf Channel will begin its broadcast at 10 a.m. EST, with NBC taking over at 2 p.m.

·       Chella Choi registered the third hole-in-one of the championship, using a 4-hybrid to ace the 180-yard 12th hole. Choi’s ace is the 31st in championship history and the three aces matched the highest in a single U.S. Women’s Open (1983 at Cedar Ridge Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., and 1998 at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wis.).

·       Defending champion Jeongeun Lee6 posted a 2-over 73 on Saturday and is in a tie for 15th.

·       The third round continued to be a Waterloo for amateur Linn Grant. The Arizona State All-American, who began the day three strokes off the lead, put two balls in the penalty area on the par-4 10th en route to a 78, the same score she posted two years ago at Shoal Creek when she was four off the lead heading into the weekend.

·       Papp, the other amateur in Saturday’s final grouping, shot a 74 and sits at even-par 213. The University of Texas All-American and 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion has a two-stroke lead over Swedes Maja Stark and Ingrid Lindblad in the battle for low-amateur honors.

·       If Olson goes on to win the title, she would become the first American since Hilary Lunke in 2003 to make the U.S. Women’s Open her first professional win.

·       One interesting stat from the week: the LPGA Tour’s top six leaders in driving distance all failed to qualify for the weekend. In order, they included Bianca Pagdanganan, Anne van Dam, Maria Fassi, Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson and Nanna Koerstz Madsen. Pagdanganan, van Dam and Fassi were grouped together.

·       On the other end of the spectrum, four of the five most accurate drivers among the top 10 on Tour did make the cut. They includes No. 1 Choi (84.4 percent of fairways hit), No. 4 Inbee Park (82.0), No. 9 Stacy Lewis (80.8) and No. 10 Lizette Salas (80.5). The lone player in that group to miss the cut was No. 7 Jasmine Suwannapura (81.4).

·       2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Gabriela Ruffels likely won’t garner low-amateur honors this week, but she’ll take home quite a memory from Champions G.C. She will have been paired with major champions for all four rounds. She was grouped with 2019 Women’s British Open champ Hinako Shibuno and defending U.S. Women’s Open champion Lee6 the first two rounds. On Saturday, she played past KPMG Women’s PGA champion Danielle Kang and two-time major winner and world No. 1 Jin Young Ko. On Sunday, she’s paired with 2011 U.S. Women’s Open champion So Yeon Ryu and 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA champ Hannah Green.

Quotable

“Last year when I won the major, there was a large number of people and that gave me power. It’s easier for me to get momentum as well. However, now there’s no people, no audience and it’s very difficult for me to get momentum, because when I get a birdie, it’s silence.” – 54-hole leader Hinako Shibuno

“I really didn’t expect to be performing so well and I’m just glad to be here.” – Ji Yeong Kim2 on being tied for third in her first U.S. Women’s Open

“I try not to set expectations for myself, especially this week. I just try to do the best I can on the golf course with what I have that week and just try to be myself the whole time and just kind of block everything out of what’s going on around me.” – amateur Kaitlyn Papp

“I didn’t hit the ball that good, but also I played with my sister and I’m rooting for her and I’m really happy about her game. She just made 6 on number 17, but before that her game was amazing.” – 2018 champion Ariya Jutanugarn on being grouped with older sister Moriya

“It was playing really, really long. I hit probably seven or eight times 3-wood into the greens and we were getting muddy balls. Almost every single shot we had to deal with the muddy ball. It wasn’t easy out there.” – Inbee Park on the conditions for Round 3

“You’ve got work hard for it. I think just knowing that from the start until the finish of the week it’s going to be a grind. But I think that just exemplifies what a U.S. Open is like. You get rewarded for good play and that’s how a major should be.” – Bronte Law after posting an even-par 70 to move into a tie for 19th

“It was so cool. I was definitely a little bit nervous. I watch these girls on TV all the time. Playing with them was awesome, and they were super nice to me, too.” – 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Gabriela Ruffels on being grouped with Danielle Kang and world No. 1 Jin Young Ko on Saturday, after being paired the first two rounds with 2019 champion Jeongeun Lee6 and Shibuno

David Shefter is a senior staff writer with the USGA. Email him at [email protected].