Hataoka Bids for Breakthrough at Pebble Beach

Pebble Beach, California, United States: Two things happened on Saturday at the 78th US Women’s Open: the sun came out, and the brisk winds that make Pebble Beach Golf Links such a challenge arrived on property.

After two days of damp, overcast conditions, the third round of the first women’s Major championship on these historic links featured the kind of weather so many have been accustomed to seeing when US Opens are contested here.

To sum it up, Pebble Beach became a survival test. Even with a few tees moved up and the par-72 layout playing the shortest of the week at 6,334 yards, the winds that gusted as high as 25 miles per hour caused havoc for a majority of the 74 competitors who made the cut.

One player who seemed immune to the conditions, however, was 24-year-old Japanese Nasa Hataoka. The two-time Major championship runner-up – play-off defeats in the 2018 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and 2021 US Women’s Open at The Olympic Club – carded the round of the championship, a bogey-free, six-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Allisen Corpuz.

Hataoka sits at seven-under 209 through 54 holes. Corpuz, who started the third round two strokes off the lead, fired a 71.

LPGA Tour rookie Bailey Tardy, the surprise 36-hole leader who qualified for this championship and is 455th in the Rolex Women’s Golf Rankings, struggled early and carded a 75 to sit three strokes back with 2014 Amundi Evian champion Kim Hyo-joo (73) at four-under 212.

Two-time Women’s British Open champion Shin Ji-yai (70) and fellow Korean Ryu Hae-ran (73) are the only two other players under par through three rounds at 214.

Hataoka was simply brilliant in round three, especially on the second nine, which played two strokes higher than the outward nine (36.3-38.4).

Not only did she shoot 32 over this difficult stretch, but also managed to produce key par saves on 12 and 15, while chipping in for birdie from 39 feet at the par-four 16th. She followed with an 11-foot birdie on the par-three17th.

She currently leads the field in strokes gained putting (+2.25) and is tied for third in greens in regulation (36 of 54). On Saturday, she was +4.01 in strokes gained putting.

“I would say that from around the seventh hole I started to feel the wind, and of course we were at the waterfront, so it was quite different,” said Hataoka, who owns six LPGA Tour wins. “Then I had some of the par saves, and so compared to my last two days, I think that from the back nine onwards I did pretty well.”

Corpuz, 25, will join Hataoka in Sunday’s final grouping. Growing up in Hawaii, the University of Southern California graduate frequently played in breezy conditions. And she looked in full control of her emotions and game most of the round before taking an unfortunate bogey on the par-five closing hole, after she found her third shot buried in a greenside bunker.

Nevertheless, she was one of the few to navigate the challenging final 11 holes at Pebble Beach, shooting even-par through that stretch. Now, she has a chance to register her first professional win.

The 2021 USA Curtis Cup competitor holed out a chip on the fifth for her first birdie and followed with short birdies on 10 and 14.

“It means a ton. It’s really special to be in the final pairing,” said Corpuz. “I’m really excited and looking forward to it.”

Tardy never got the early mojo she had in the first two rounds. She bogeyed the par-five sixth, which she eagled the first two days, after finding the penalty area to the right of the fairway with her tee shot.

Her first birdie came on 11 when she holed out a pitch from greenside rough. But a bogey on 12 when her tee shot found a greenside bunker – and a double-bogey six on 15 after a poor eight-iron approach from the fairway – jilted that momentum.

The 2016 USA Curtis Cup competitor did bounce back with a birdie on 16, a clutch par save on 17 and a two-putt par on 18 to get into Sunday’s penultimate pairing with Kim.