Warian Is Medalist & Gophers Are Team Champs at Highland Meadows
April 16, 2024
By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org
CHASKA, Minn. – Borrowing a little luck from her previous round yesterday, Australian Hannah Green holed her fourth shot after finding the penalty area at 12th to save par Friday, helping her to a round of 3-under par 69 as she extended her lead to three strokes over Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn after two rounds of the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
Green started the championship with a bogey-free round of 68 Thursday, highlighted by sinking her third shot from the sand at her 16th hole to keep a clean scorecard intact. Finding the fairway and putting surface more frequently Green played a more fundamental game statistically tee to green during her second round Friday, moving closer to claiming her first LPGA title.
“I found today the difference was I kind of left myself in worse positions on the greens,” Green said Friday. “Even though I still hit it close, I left myself with putts that had a lot of break, which obviously are harder to hole. That was probably the difference to yesterday when I was on the green, I had uphill putts with not very much break.
“I think I stayed patient out there. I had the opportunity to make a birdie on 15 and missed it, but still made a great up-and-down on 16, so things were up and down.”
Green took her first bogey of the championship on the opening hole Friday, which played much longer than 417 yards into a strong headwind. Settling in from there, Green rolled in her birdie from 12 feet at the second to draw even and added a pair of birdies at the sixth and eighth holes to turn at 6-under for the championship.
Carding four consecutive pars to begin her back nine Friday, Green added her fourth birdie of the round at the par-4 14th and would finish the day with a three-stroke advantage at 7-under par 137.
Jutanugarn, who claimed three victories during the 2018 season, quickly climbed the leaderboard Friday, carding two birdies and an eagle during her opening nine before slipping with a pair of bogeys on her inward nine.
The 23-year-old from Bangkok is coming off the best season of her professional career, making over $2.7 million and winning her second major at the U.S. Women’s Open at Shoal Creek Golf Club in Shoal Creek, Ala.
Posting one of the lower rounds despite the windy conditions Friday was former Wayzata High School standout Sarah Burnham, who bounced back from a round of 78 Thursday to shoot 1-under par 71 to make the cut for the weekend on the number.
“Probably one of my best rounds of my career, not the lowest, but it’s something I needed to do to make [the cut],” said Burnham, who was all smiles Friday after a disappointing start to the tournament the previous day.
Followed by far more spectators than anyone else in the field this week, Burnham admitted that seeing all the familiar faces in the crowd brought with it some butterflies on the first tee box Friday.
“I was a little nervous. At the beginning I would say at least 75 to 100 when I teed off,” Burnham estimated the size of her support system. “It was funny, I told my caddy on the tee, ‘Oh my gosh, I recognize so many people. I’m not sure I know everyone’s name. It was really cool to see everyone out there.
“I stuck to the plan of hitting greens and fairways. I definitely felt more relaxed today than yesterday. I knew I had to play aggressive—it was the only chance I had and I was able to do that.”
After an up-and-down front nine with three birdies and three bogeys Friday, Burnham steadied herself over the final nine holes, carding one birdie and avoiding big numbers, something she struggled with Thursday.
Tee times for the third round of the 2019 KPMG Women's PGA Championship are slated to begin Saturday at 6:45 a.m. at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
2019 KPMG WOMEN’S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
HAZELTINE NATIONAL GOLF CLUB
CHASKA, MINN
6,760 YARDS, PAR 72
FRIDAY’S SECOND ROUND RESULTS
1. Hannah Green, 68-69—137
2. Ariya Jutanugarn, 70-70—140
T3. Sung Hyun Park, 70-71—141
T3. Lydia Ko, 71-70—141
T5. Nelly Korda, 72-70—142
T5. Angel Yin, 71-71—142
T7. Lizette Salas, 72-71—143
T7. Moriya Jutanugarn, 71-72—143
T7. Xiyu Lin, 70-73—143
T7. Jimin Kang, 73-70—143
T7. Caroline Hedwall, 72-71—143
T7. Nuria Iturrioz, 73-70—143
T7. Hyo Joo Kim, 69-74—143
T7. Pernilla Lindberg, 72-71—143
T7. Lexi Thompson, 72-71—143
T66. SARAH BURNHAM, MAPLE GROVE, MINN., 78-71—149
For complete tournament results go to: www.lpga.com/leaderboard
April 9, 2024
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