Pure Silk-Bahamas Sunday Showdown
Aug 17, 2014; Pittsford, NY, USA; Gerina Piller hits her tee shot on the 3nd hole during the final round of the Wegman
When the horn blew at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic at 5:53pm Saturday, suspending the third round, Gerina Piller had just edged into the solo lead at 10-under after firing off a 2.5 foot birdie putt on the 8th hole, but the field went to the house for the night with 13 players in hot pursuit. What a day it was in Paradise!
So. Many. Suspensions. Time to recharge and have my 20 best holes tomorrow – Christina Kim’s Tweet
Weather suspensions on Thursday and again on Friday have left the Pure Silk-Bahamas field scrambling to get caught up. Today, with the sun beaming down on the Ocean Club track and the winds down below gale-force, play started early and continued until it was just too dark to play golf, but for all but a few the third round will be finished tomorrow morning before the fourth round can begin.
There’s a Mob Chasing Piller
The stakes are big at the Pure Silk-Bahamas. Gerina Piller will be chasing her first pro victory Sunday. The fifth-year Tour player’s ranked 41st by Rolex. Over her career she’s collected 16 top-10 finishes and she’s played for the USA at the Solheim Cup, but she needs to add that first win to her resume. Among the longest hitters on the Tour, I think Piller’s been held back by her accuracy, but I felt her energy and determination today. She’s playing with a confidence that she needs to stay out in front of the crowd on Sunday.
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Lexi Thompson, another long hitter, is right behind Piller. Tenth-ranked Thompson came alive today, rocketing up the leaderboard from a 33rd place start to a tie for the top, until Piller put that birdie putt in the cup on the 8th hole. When the horn blew Thompson was at 7-under for the day, playing flawless golf with 2 holes remaining on her 3rd round. Let’s see if she can hold on to the magic in her putter overnight.
Perrine Delacour, Sandra Gal, Brooke Pancake, and rookies Kelly Shon and Sei Young Kim, who will also pick up Sunday morning and finish their third rounds, went to the clubhouse at sundown on Saturday at 9-under and sharing 2nd place with Thompson.
Sandra Gal. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Gal’s been playing a steadily superb game in very challenging conditions since Thursday and I’m looking for her to keep up the pace Sunday. She’ll be hard to beat. Delacour, Pancake, Shon and Kim are all looking at the possibility of a first career win and at the rate they’re playing, I can as see the Pure Silk-Bahamas going into a multi-player playoff.
This is a much tighter contest than I would have expected, given the rain, wind, and suspensions. Even below this cluster of leaders, there’s a tight knot of 19 players who’ll go into the finish of the 3rd round within four shots of Piller’s tenuous lead, some of them top-ranked, hard-playing closers like Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis who know how to come from behind in the final round and close the deal, others talented rookies like Minjee Lee and Ariya Jutanugarn who are sure to challenge the Tour’s status quo this season.
. . . we probably had the best golf going on today, we had so many birdies . . . -Lexi Thompson
Playing together, Lexi Thompson and Stacy Lewis were feeding off each other, and both players felt that the energy they were creating helped both their games.
Inbee Park may be playing to reclaim the Number 1 spot in the Rolex Rankings. There’s a chance she could do it, with Lydia Ko at 4-under with 3 holes remaining in her 3rd round. Park would need to finish well ahead of Ko, and there’s still a lot of golf to be played, and on Sunday anything can happen, but at the moment she has a comfortable edge in that contest.
This is a final day I’m eager to see get under way. Play will begin early for those players who need to complete their 3rd round with 4th round groups scheduled to begin teeing off at 9:38am. But tonight, I hope the entire field is following Christina Kim’s lead, recharging and getting reach to play the best 20-25 holes that they have in their bags!
Golf Channel will begin coverage of the final round at the Pure Silk-Bahamas at 3pm, in time to provide shot-by-shot commentary on the grande finale. Don’t miss it!