NORTON, Mass. (AP) — Jin Young Ko took advantage of an early collapse by Haeran Ryu and turned her own bad break into a birdie Saturday for a 5-under 67 that took her from a six-shot deficit to a two-shot lead over Lauren Coughlin in the FM Championship.
Ryu was coming off a career-best 62 on the TPC Boston that staked the 23-year-old from South Korea to a six-shot lead going into the weekend of the $3.8 million event.
It was gone in a matter of six holes.
Ryu took double bogey on the first and fourth holes, both typically tame on the Gil Hanse design, and then dropped another shot on the tough par-4 sixth. By then, she was one shot behind and never quite caught up.
It didn’t get much better. Ryu had a 78, and went from a six-shot lead to four shots behind. Ko was more surprised by Ryu than her own score.
“She's such a great player. I mean, she shoot like 10 under yesterday and I thought, ‘Is that possible to play on this golf course?’ I just wanted to follow her,” Ko said.
Ko, the former world No. 1 who hasn't won on the LPGA Tour since May 2023, started with a pair of birdies and shot 32 on the front nine to quick gain control.
Her best — and most bizarre moment — came on the 17th. Her tee shot appeared to come to rest just outside a divot. Ko was preparing to hit when she felt a gust of wind with just enough strength to blow the golf ball into the divot.
But she kept her poise, hit her approach to 20 feet and holed the putt.
“Seventeen is not an easy hole,” Ko said. “Got some luck.”
She closed with another birdie to reach 11-under 205 and will be in the final group with Coughlin, who had a 69 and will be going for her third win in the last six weeks. The amazing run was enough to put Coughlin on the Solheim Cup for the first time.
This is the last tournament before the Sept. 13-15 matches against Europe.
Carlota Ciganda of Spain had her second straight 67 and was three shots behind, along with former U.S. Women’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz (67) and Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, who had a 69.
Coughlin is on such a strong run that she didn't feel as though she played her best and yet the 31-year-old from Virginia is right in the mix.
“I hit a lot of greens but I don’t feel like I hit a lot of good golf shots, but they kind of ended up in some OK spots and made a couple putts,” Coughlin said. “I think overall it wasn't my best. But I was able to get a good score out of it.”
The FM Championship is in its first year, and the company already raised the prize money to $3.8 million from when it first announced it would sponsor the LPGA event. FM also has offered free lodging to the players and is giving a $1,000 stipend to anyone missing the cut.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Megan Khang of the United States tees off on the 3rd during the first round of the FM championship LPGA golf tournament, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen were arrested Saturday after Venezuelan officials accused them of coming to the South American country to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.
The arrests were announced on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the nation's powerful interior minister. Cabello said the foreign citizens were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. In the television program, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the plotters of the alleged plan.
The arrest of the American citizens included a member of the Navy, who Cabello identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gomez. Cabello said that Gomez was a former navy seal who had served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia. Spain's embassy in Venezuela did not reply to a request for comment on the arrests of its citizens.
The U.S. State Department late Saturday confirmed the detention of a U.S. military member and said it was aware of “unconfirmed reports of two additional U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela.”
“Any claims of U.S. involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false. The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela,” the statement said.
The announcement of the arrests comes just two days after the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on 16 allies of Maduro who were accused by the U.S. government of obstructing voting during the disputed July 28 Venezuelan presidential election, and carrying out human rights abuses.
Earlier this week, Spain's parliament recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of the election, angering Maduro allies who called on the Venezuelan government to suspend commercial and diplomatic relations with Spain.
Tensions between Venezuela's government and the U.S. have increased as well following the election, whose result sparked protests within Venezuela in which hundreds of opposition activists were arrested.
Venezuela's Electoral Council, which is closely aligned with the Maduro administration, said Maduro won the election with 52% of the vote, but did not provide a detailed breakdown of the results.
Opposition activists, however, surprised the government by collecting tally sheets from 80% of the nation's voting machines. The tally sheets collected by the opposition were published online, and they indicate that Gonzalez won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.
Despite international condemnation over the election's lack of transparency, Venezuela's supreme court, which has long backed Maduro, confirmed his victory in August. Venezuela's attorney general then filed conspiracy charges against Gonzalez, who fled to Spain last week after it became clear he would be arrested.
Maduro has dismissed requests from several countries, including the leftist governments of Colombia and Brazil, to provide tally sheets that prove he won the election. Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has long claimed the U.S. is trying to overthrow him through sanctions and covert operations.
The Maduro administration has previously used Americans imprisoned in Venezuela to gain concessions from the U.S. government. In a deal conducted last year with the Biden administration, Maduro released 10 Americans and a fugitive wanted by the U.S. government to secure a presidential pardon for Alex Saab, a close Maduro ally who was held in Florida on money laundering charges. According to U.S. prosecutors, Saab had also helped Maduro to avoid U.S. Treasury sanctions through a complex network of shell companies.
FILE - Socialist Party President Diosdado Cabello gives his weekly press conference, in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, Venezuela, Aug. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
FILE - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro addresses government loyalists gathered at the presidential palace in support of his reelection one month after the presidential vote, in Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
