Frida Kinhult of Sweden fired a 4-under-par 67 on Saturday to claim top spot after 36 holes at the ShopRite LPGA Classic; USA on the brink of retaining the Curtis Cup for a third consecutive time after taking an eight-and-a-half to three-and-a-half lead over Great Britain and Ireland
Last Updated: 12/06/22 8:15am
Jodi Ewart Shadoff shot 67 in her third round in Galloway Township
England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff is two shots behind leader Frida Kinhult after 36 holes at the ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway Township, New Jersey.
Shadoff is tied third with Morgane Metraux on seven-under, two behind Kinhult who leads the pack after shooting four-under 67 on Saturday. Lauren Coughlin, who jolted up the leaderboard with a six-under 65 in the second round, is in second.
First-round leader Stephanie Kyriacou of Australia shot 73 on Saturday and is tied for 14th at 4 under.
Kinhult, 22, played even golf before striking for four birdies in her last 11 holes. She played bogey-free golf in pursuit of her first LPGA victory.
“Game feels pretty good and I guess it fits this course,” she said.
“Tomorrow anything can happen. I can’t go out and make pars; I’ll have to fight for my birdies tomorrow and try to get a low one to get a W.”
Jodi Ewart Shadoff is two off the lead in New Jersey
Coughlin started fast, beginning on the back nine. She carded birdies on her first two holes and finished with six en route to a clean round. Her biggest challenge was keeping her emotions in check as she climbed the leaderboard.
“I was trying not to look as best I could,” Coughlin said. “You know, kind of tend to get a little anxious when I look and see I’m doing well. Now it feels really good. Today it finally just all clicked and the putts started going in.”
Lydia Ko also carded a 65 in the second round, vaulting into a tie for fifth, three shots behind the leaders. She shot 71 in her opening round.
“I actually didn’t play that bad yesterday. I think I made a lot of careless mistakes and I had a lot of wedges in hand and I felt like I kind of let the round become very mediocre, so I was a little disappointed,” Ko said.
“Today… I was really patient out there and I putted really well, so hopefully kind of keep that momentum for tomorrow.”
Lydia Ko is three shots behind leader Frida Kinhult
USA closing on Curtis Cup victory
Amari Avery won two more matches on Saturday to help the United States take an eight-and-a-half to three-and-a-half lead over Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup, with eight singles matches set for Sunday at Merion Golf Club.
Avery went 4-0 in the four-ball and foursomes matches. The 18-year-old teamed up with Megha Ganne to beat Hannah Darling and Annabell Fuller 2 and 1 in the morning four-ball session and joined Rachel Kuehn in the afternoon foursomes for a 2-up win over Amelia Williamson and Emily Price.
“You always have to expect it’s going to be a tight, hard match,” Avery said. “Honestly, I love that. I never want it to be easy. I want to fight hard for my win.”
Emilia Migliaccio and Latanna Stone also won for the United States in the morning, beating Charlotte Heath and Louise Duncan 1 up.
Caley McGinty and Lauren Walsh earned one-and-half points for GB & Ireland, beating Kuehn and Jensen Castle 5 and 4 in four-ball and halving with Rachel Heck and Rose Zhang in foursomes.
“We’ve said all along that we want each other to play well, and whoever makes more birdies will come out on top,” Walsh said. “We were rooting for them out there. It was a great match. We were glad that we could put on a show.”
Darling and Fuller also won for Great Britain and Ireland, topping Castle and Stone 2 and 1 in foursomes.
Watch the conclusion to the Shoprite LPGA Classic and the Curtis Cup live this Sunday on Sky Sports Golf. Watch the Curtis Cup live on Sunday from 12.30pm on the Sky Sports Golf YouTube channel and the LPGA Tour action live via the red button from 5pm.
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