SAMMAMISH – Caroline Inglis lives closer to Sahalee Country Club than anyone else in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship field this week, and perhaps no one has more to gain in Sunday’s final round than the Vancouver, Washington, resident.
Inglis put herself in position for perhaps her best finish of her LPGA career, and certainly her biggest payday, with a 3-under 69 on Saturday, leaving her in a tie for fifth place, four shots behind leader Amy Yang .
“It was a good, solid (round), kind of a rollercoaster nowadays, but it is what it is,” Inglis said. “We’ll figure it out and come back tomorrow.”
Inglis played steady golf early Saturday, getting up and down from the green on three of his first four holes. After a birdie on the par-5 sixth, he hit a 30-yard bunker shot on the par-5 seventh hole for an extra birdie.
Inglis said anything within 10 feet would have been a good shot. But the ball jumped twice, hit the pin and fell, drawing a standing ovation from a gallery that included several family members.
“I wasn’t trying to do that, but it just happened,” he said.
An eagle on the par-5 11th moved Inglis into a tie for fourth at the time at 3 under.
Inglis had two bogeys – on the eighth and 12th holes – and hit good shots to escape without further damage.
“That’s what I mean by roller coaster round,” Inglis said. “It was feast or famine.”
Inglis’ best finish on the LPGA Tour was a tie for 10th in 2018, her first year as a full-time member. Her best finish this season is a tie for 31st, leaving her in 129th place in the LPGA season points race.
A strong finish on Sunday would give Inglis a big boost.
The final round will certainly be a test, but it can’t be any more difficult than what you faced the previous time you played competitively in this area.
Inglis participated in a 36-hole U.S. Women’s Open qualifier on April 30 at Rainier Country Club in Seattle. She finished in a three-way tie for the last two spots.
Three holes after the playoff, one of the other competitors earned one of the qualifying spots. Four holes later, her 43rd of the day, as darkness fell, Inglis made a 15-foot birdie putt to earn her spot in the U.S. Women’s Open.
Inglis said that was “a nice confidence boost.”
Inglis made the cut at the US Women’s Open and finished tied for 69th, and is now in good position to achieve her best finish in a major, which is currently tied for 22nd.
A performance like this week’s might have been expected after he won three straight Oregon state championships while playing for Thurston High School in Eugene.
She then starred in her hometown of Oregon, winning the Pac-12 championship with a record score of 206 in 2015, and then finishing tied for 16th at the NCAA championships in 2016.
But a back injury in 2018 ended her first full season on the LPGA Tour early and she missed all of 2019.
He returned midseason in 2020 and has been working toward an opportunity like this for the past four years.
“Obviously that’s why I play and it’s the position I want to be in,” he said. “So I think about doing the same thing I’ve been doing. Don’t try to be elegant or
do something special. “That’s why you play golf, to be in positions like this and go out and try to win it.”
Henderson probably out of competition
Brooke Henderson, who won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship when it was played at Sahalee in 2016, shot a 1-over-par 73 on Saturday to put her at 2 over for the tournament.
She is tied for 25th place, nine shots behind.
Henderson defeated Lydia Ko in a playoff in 2016. Ko struggled Saturday, shooting 76 and is tied for 62nd with 8 over.
Note
Bianca Pagdanganan, who played two seasons at Gonzaga, shot 74 on Saturday and is tied for 25th with 2 over.
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