CINCINNATI (AP) 鈥� Chella Choi bogeyed her final two holes Thursday that blemished an otherwise flawless round, giving her a 4-under 66 to fall into a three-way share of the lead with Rio Takeda and Ina Yoon in the Kroger Queen City Championship.
Nelly Korda had 15 pars in her round of 1-under 69 in her bid to win a third straight tournament. Korda won for her third major and the following week before taking off last week.
Jeeno Thitikul, who won last week in the , also had a 69. It was the same score as Korda achieved far differently.
Korda had two birdies against one bogey at Maketewah Country Club, in its first year hosting the LPGA Tour event. Thitikul had only five pars 鈥� seven birdies and six bogeys.
Choi was at 6 under until her foot slipped on a shot at No. 8, leading to her first bogey. She failed to get up-and-down from a bunker on the long par-3 ninth, her final hole.
鈥淪uper hard golf course,鈥� Choi said. 鈥淔airways very narrow and the green is … green in not flag, like so many bumps here.鈥�
Jin Young Ko and Lilia Vu, both with multiple majors in their careers, were at 67. Another shot behind were Lydia Ko and Charley Hull.
Lydia Ko was in a group with Korda and Thitikul, the Nos. 1 and 2 players in the women’s world ranking.
鈥淪omebody asked me who I was playing and I was like, 鈥業鈥檓 playing with 1 and 2, and they鈥檙e almost like 1 and 1,鈥欌�� Ko said. 鈥淚 was thinking some part in my back nine how impressive they鈥檝e played these last few years. I think that鈥檚 the most impressive thing.鈥�
鈥淛eeno, she鈥檚 won a couple times, but she also has put herself in contention a lot in the times she didn鈥檛 win,鈥� she added. 鈥淣elly hasn’t finished worse than second place this year. So it was cool to be out there with them.鈥�
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