25 Apr 2016

Ko has ground to make up in San Fran

5:22 am on 25 April 2016

Two-time defending champion Lydia Ko is six shots off the lead at the end of the penultimate day at the latest LPGA Tour event in San Francisco.

Lydia Ko in Rancho Mirage, 2015.

Lydia Ko Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The New Zealand golfer, and world number one posted a 1-over par, 73 today to finish at 4-under par tied for eighth.

Ko started the day four shots off the lead in a tie for fifth, but was never able to make up ground, in a round that included three bogeys and two birdies.

Japan's Haru Nomura remained in control of her game to post a third round 1-under par, 71 to maintain her lead at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.

She holds a three-stroke lead ahead of South Africa's Lee-Anne Pace and South Korea's Na Yeon Choi at 7-under par. Nomura, Pace and Choi were the only players who started the day in the top-10 to card rounds under par.

Ko, who will turn 19 tomorrow, said her game was pretty average today.

"But I felt like chipping, short game wise it was good, but I wasn't making the putts that needed to go in for birdie or those crucial par saves, so I think that was the difference from today to yesterday," Ko said.

A win would make Nomura the third two-time winner in 2016, joining Ha Na Jang and Lydia Ko as the only other players to accomplish the feat so far this season.