Ryu holes out for eagle, keeps two-shot lead in Black Desert Championship

By Canadian Press on May 3, 2025.

IVINS, Utah (AP) — Hae Ran Ryu regained control of the Black Desert Championship by holing out for eagle on the 11th hole, sending her to a 4-under 68 to maintain her two-shot lead in the LPGA Tour’s return to Utah for the first time in more than 60 years.

Ryu will be trying to win a tournament for the seventh straight year, dating to when she was an 18-year-old on the Korea LPGA Tour.

Her biggest challenge might be Ruoning Yin, the former Women’s LPGA champion who reeled off 10 birdies at Black Desert for a 62, the best score of the tournament and enough to get within two shots.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., is tied for seventh and six shots behind Ryu. Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont., is tied for 55th at 5 under

Ryu started with a two-shot lead and twice had players catch her, if only briefly.

One of them was Somi Lee, who had a pair of early birdies before her round self-destructed with a double bogey on No. 6 and no birdies until the final hole after she had shot herself out of the tournament.

Esther Henseleit of Germany briefly caught Ryu, but only until the 24-year-old Korean stood in the 11th fairway, 82 yards away. Her wedge caught the slope with just enough spin to send it into the cup for an eagle.

Henseleit made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th to get within one shot. But she hit her drive into the black lava rocks and had to hit another off the tee. Her par chip from just short of the green left her three feet away, but she missed what looked to be a routine putt and made double bogey. That gave the German a 68 and left her three shots behind.

“I guess you have to just think about the good shots you hit,” Henseleit said.

Ryu had a chance to expand her lead until she missed a birdie putt from about the same distance Henseleit had.

Ryu, who shared the 54-hole lead at a major last week in the Chevron Championship before closing with a 76, was at 18-under 198. Her last win last year was also at a tournament making its LPGA debut, the FM Championship.

Yin, who lost a chance to win another major last week when she three-putted in the five-way playoff at the Chevron, started the day eight shots behind and posted her 62 about the time the final group was making the turn.

“I’m just going to keep saying this: Stay in the present and the past is the past,” Yin said. “I mean, you cannot guarantee every day is going to be a good day like today, but you just got to keep trying and keep trying to have a great day.”

Starting times are moving forward for Sunday’s final round because of rain in the forecast.

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The Associated Press