Pebble Beach, Calif. — Neither the winds in Pebble Beach nor the US Women’s Open stage could stop Nasa Hatooka, who produced the best run in the toughest conditions on Saturday to lead 6-under 66 and a shot.
Not only did Hatooka score the low score of the tournament, but she played a bogey-free game on Pebble Beach that pulled out big numbers without warning. Her 66 was nearly nine shots better than the field average.
More importantly, it left the 24-year-old from Japan one round short of her first major. Hatooka has lost major slam playoffs, including two years ago to Yuka Saso at the US Women’s Open on the California coast at the Olympic Club.
Alison Corpuz was there with her until the very end, when the Hawaii native misplaced an 8-foot birdie on the 17th, then discovered an obstructed lie in the dugout that runs along the perimeter wall on the 18th. She had to step out onto the driveway and lost 15 feet.
Corpuz had 71 – one of 10 players to break par on Saturday – and will be in the last set with Hatoka on Sunday.
The first prime-time LPGA major course brought sunny views of America’s most famous coastal course and a mix of brilliance and blunders in winds gusting over 20mph.
Hataoka, who was six shots behind at the start of the round, began her move with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole. Returning to the home holes in the wind, she holed a 15-foot putt for birdie on the 13th and drew her loudest cheer when her 40-foot slice from behind the 16th green broke hard to right and fell for birdie.
Her final birdie was a 12-under par 3 of 17. Hataoka was 7-under 209.
Corpuz chipped a birdie third par-5th, hit a camel in the 10th for another birdie and stayed ahead with a checked wedge off the backpin on the par-5 14th.
Billy Tardy, a junior on the LPGA Tour who was leading two shots at the start, was starting to fall back when turning into the wind and then lost her way on the 15th hole when she hit a heavy chip that went through the green, chipping very hard back and making a double bogey.
Tardy shot 75 and was three shots behind at 4-under 212, along with Heo Joo Kim (73). Ji Yae Shin (70) and Hae Ran Ryu (73) were five years behind. Nobody was below par.
Many have done well just to hold their ground, letting themselves be far behind.
Rose Chang, a crowd favorite at Pebble Beach from her pro career at Stanford University and winner of her first LPGA event as a professional, had a par 3 under round until she missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the 7th hole.
You didn’t make a birdie the rest of the way. She settled for 72 and was among those eight shots behind.
Leona Maguire, who had a 40 in the lead-off ninth on Friday, struggled again with a pair of double-bogeys and was out on 39. One shot left in a bunker on the par 5, flew into the green and bunkered with a botched putt that went bad in the 8th.
But it was level with the rest of the way at 75.
Irish amateur Ian Dunigan had a tough time. She was playing her best golf of the week and making an early three-birdie run through seven holes and a perfect drive on the eighth, off a 60-foot drop with a stiff left-right wind.
And then I sailed a hybrid into the danger zone well below the green. She went back to the drop zone and did it again. She added to 9, effectively ending her chances.
“It’s probably one of the worst shots I’ve had all year,” Donegan said. “And I followed it up with the exact same thing.”
The caddy told her to think of a nine of seven pars and two of a ghost—this was the same pitch as three birds and a ghost of five—and this helped calm her.
“I couldn’t keep crying about it,” Donegan said. Not so for an Irish player whose smile and demeanor lit up Pebble Beach as much as the sunshine that finally arrived.
She had a 75, still positioned to be a low amateur at her first US Women’s Open, but 11 shots behind Hataoka.
Of the six players who are still up to par, only Kim and Shin have won major slams. Shin is a two-time Women’s British Open Champion and former world number one who left the LPGA Tour and plays primarily in the LPGA Japan.
Hatooka hopes to learn from her experience with playoff losses at the top companies, particularly those that were at the Olympic.
“I still have this last day to look forward to, and although the circumstances may be different, I think some elements are still the same as two years ago,” said Hataoka. “In other words, I have to go all those 18 holes, discuss with the caddy and figure out what works best for me, and enjoy my day tomorrow.”