Evian-les-Bains, France — Hyeran Ryu set an LPGA main scoring file with an 11-under 60 on Saturday, giving the Korean participant a three-shot lead on the Evian Championship and aiming for a second straight main title.
Two weeks after profitable her first main on the Girls’s PGA Championship, Ryu birdied 4 of her last 5 holes at Evian Golf Resort. She had an opportunity to tie the LPGA scoring file of 59, however settled for a protracted two-putt birdie putt on the ultimate gap.
Ryu did not notice what he had achieved till he checked out his scorecard and counted all of the holes beneath par, 9 birdies and one eagle, and realized he had a par of 71.
“However after the putt, I counted the rating with my caddy,” she mentioned. “Oh my god, I am 11 underneath right this moment. It was actually nice. My caddy says, ‘Yeah.'” I am very pleased now. ”
Her 60 broke the file for lowest spherical in an LPGA main by one. Leona Maguire and Lee Jun-eun 6 in 2021 and Kim Hyo-joo in 2014 every shot 61 on the Evian Championship, which was designated as an LPGA main in 2013.
The bottom spherical in a males’s main is a 62 by 4 gamers: Branden Grace at Royal Birkdale on the 2017 British Open, Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler on the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Nation Membership, and Schauffele and Shane Lowry on the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla.
Ryu’s subsequent step is to ship the ending blow. Her complete rating for the day was 18-under 194, additionally an LPGA main file, beating Japan’s Aki Iwai, who shot a 65, by three strokes.
The following closest gamers to Ryu have been Brooke Henderson (64), who was seven strokes behind, and Japan’s Mao Saigo (67).
Lottie Ward (England) began the third spherical with a one-stroke lead, however struggled with a 72, dropping her tempo by 9 strokes.
Hyun-jin Ryu birdied each par-3s on the entrance 9, and holed out for eagle with a 7-iron from 155 yards on the par-4 sixth gap.
“That gap is a little bit bit slender and the inexperienced is a little bit hilly so it is a little bit troublesome, so I simply need to get a par on that gap,” Ryu mentioned. “I hit a 7-iron there and made a extremely good shot. I simply walked as much as (the inexperienced) and it went in. So I used to be very pleased there and I used to be stunned.”
Of the three gamers to ever shoot a 61 at Evian, Kim was the one one to go on to win, and Ryu realized he nonetheless had work left in him. Iwai has already made up for a few of his errors with 21 birdies this week, main by three, the identical margin that Ryu confronted firstly of the day.
Iwai mentioned, “I missed out on taking part final 12 months, so I need to get revenge.” “I am actually optimistic about tomorrow. We simply need to preserve transferring ahead.”
After ending runner-up on the Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship, Ryu underwent minor again surgical procedure and returned greater than a month later to win her first main on the Girls’s PGA in Hazeltine. This 12 months, she has an opportunity to grow to be a two-time main winner, becoming a member of Nelly Korda, who missed the minimize at Evian.
Finishing two majors in three weeks was a problem for her.
“Wow, what a dream,” Ryu mentioned. “So, I am hoping that occurs, however I’ve acquired in the future left and Aki’s a reasonably good participant, everybody’s a reasonably good participant, so I am simply doing fairly nicely.”
