CALGARY — For all the talk about Earl Grey Golf Club being set up like a major championship, Saturday the conditions – and the course set up – were ripe for scoring. And the best in the world took advantage.
Haeran Ryu, who has done everything this season on the LPGA Tour except for win, heads into Sunday in Calgary leading by one over Lauren Coughlin, who is gunning for her first career LPGA Tour title.
Ryu fired a tidy 8-under 64 Saturday after opening with four birdies in a row.
“After the starting few holes I thought, ‘Oh I’m crazy,’” Ryu said with a laugh.
Ryu has seven top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour this season, including a runner-up last week, and has been awfully close to winning for the second time after she won her maiden LPGA Tour title last year as a rookie.
“I think because really good finish at final round last week I have more confidence for my everything for the golf. Now I just trust myself and really good score and keep going,” Ryu said.
To her credit, Coughlin held on tight with a 6-under effort of her own in the third round. She was off to the races after birding her first two holes and then added six more the rest of the way. She had a chance to tie Ryu with a lengthy birdie of her own on No. 18 but it slid just right. The pair will make up Sunday’s final group.
“I’m not really going to try to pay too much attention to it. It’s going to be hard obviously since we’re playing together, but it’ll be nice to know,” Coughlin said of her final-round pairing. “At the same time, I’m going to try to do the best I can to just stay in myself and kind of try to stay in a little bubble with (my caddie) and control what I can control, which is me.”
While there is a tight battle at the top, rookie Mao Saigo proved that — despite two days of major-like conditions – there are still birdies to be had at Earl Grey Golf Club. She battled to make the cut Friday at the CPKC Women’s Open and then did something that’s never happened in the history of the tournament Saturday morning.
Saigo shot an incredible 11-under 61 at Earl Grey Golf Club – setting the course and single-round tournament scoring record in the process.
“I’m very proud of myself because that was the best round since I started playing golf,” Saigo said through a translator.
Saigo needed just 23 putts Saturday and holed shots from off the green twice — once for birdie on the par-3 9th, and then for an eagle from 133 yards on the par-4 10th. She had nine birdies on the day to go along with her eagle
“When I made that par putt on the last hole, that’s when I realized I just played the best golf of my life,” she said.
Saigo is a multi-time winner on JLPGA — the Japanese Ladies Professional Golfers Association — so she doesn’t necessarily feel like she’s a true rookie. She has three top-10 finishes this season.
The final groups of the day had just teed off when Saigo had finished up, but Saigo’s 8-under total through 54 holes held up. She’ll be in the penultimate pairing for Sunday’s finale with American star Rose Zhang, who called Saigo’s round, “crazy.”
“Just because I am a rookie I wasn’t going to be intimidated. I just wanted to play my own game, and to be able to shoot this score, I’m very happy about it,” Saigo said.
“When I wanted to play pro golf, my dream was to win on LPGA Tour. So, I wanted to make that dream come true.”
Canadian Brooke Henderson’s dream of winning this tournament came true in 2018. It’s unlikely she’ll tilt the trophy again this year, but she notched her lowest round of the week Saturday, a 3-under 69, and exacted some revenge on the closing stretch that did her in on Friday.
She’s the low Canadian heading into Sunday’s finale but is 11 shots back of the lead.
“I feel like overall it was really solid. Started to hit the ball a lot better, a lot closer to what I usually hit it like. Gave myself good opportunities for birdie, which is what you always want,” Henderson said. “Feel like get a couple more putts to fall tomorrow would be great and finish this week on a high.”
“Today was a really solid day. Really happy to get six birdies on the card. Unfortunate to drop three shots with three bogeys, but I’m right there.”
A few golfers said they thought a 6-under round was out there given that Saturday’s conditions were set for scoring. But a lot has to go your way to fire an 11-under score, which is exactly what happened to Saigo.
“I could see how once you get into the flow, things can kind of go your way,” Henderson said. “With that being said, it’s still a very tough golf course and you got to play smart. That’s a very impressive round and I hope I can do it tomorrow.”
Alena Sharp matched Henderson’s 3-under 69 Saturday for her best round of the week. She’s tied for 30th with Maude-Aimee Leblanc. Ellie Szeryk is tied for 57th after an even-par 72 while Savannah Grewal shot a 2-over 74 Saturday and is tied for 61st.