Danielle Kang - Photo: DR - Source: KPMG Women's PGA via Twitter

Ko and Klatten tied, but eleven shots…

Before the final round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, the outcome of which will be known on the night of Sunday to Monday at Olympia Fields, near Chicago, Joanna Klatten finds herself tied with a certain Lydia Ko. Too bad that, for once, the New Zealand's gifted is not quite at the top of the leaderboard after three laps. It is indeed at the 48th rank that we must go to find that which was still number 1 at the Rolex rankings on June 11, before the Thai Ariya Jutanugarn, then the Korean So Yeon Ryu, successively deprive her of her crown World. "Jo" and Ko are therefore 48th at +1, ie eleven shots from the two co-leaders after three rounds, the South Korean Chella Choi and the American Danielle Kang, both at -10.

Nine bogeys for the former world number 1

For Joanna Klatten, Saturday was crystal clear: 16 pars, 1 birdie and 1 bogey for a 71 card, in par. Enough to regain some serenity after the hectic day on Friday, where she had to combine the end of her first round and her second round. A disturbing configuration which saw her register two double bogeys and a clear decline in the classification (3rd after sixteen holes, 46th after thirty-six holes!). Lydia Ko, 12th to -4 after two laps, could be confident. But she was going to experience a kind of "black saturday". Unlikely in normal times for a player of her caliber: nine bogeys in this third round, just slightly mitigated by four birdies, with a card of 76 and therefore a drop from 12th to 48th place.

280,342 yards average drive for "Jo"

We can nevertheless count on Ko as well as on Klatten - and also on Karine Icher, 58th at +2 after three laps - to at least try to make a good comeback in the final standings of this second major of the season. Joanna Klatten would have the means, as evidenced by her statistics for the third round: 14 greens in regulation out of 18 and an average of 277,50 yards at the drive (about 250 meters). In this sector of the drive, the Frenchwoman could well win the ranking of the longest hitter of the LPGA Tour for the third time in a row, she who again dominates this "stat" halfway through the 2017 season: 280,342 yards on average !

Choi, Kang, Shin, Ryu, Thompson or Henderson?

Afterwards, we obviously know that the sinews of war (even the war of nerves) is still and always in putting. Joanna's 30-35-32 putts on her first three laps are for example to be put into perspective with the 27-29-28 of the South Korean Chella Choi, co-leader at -10 with the American Danielle Kang. Unstoppable. Choi and Kang therefore took two, even three or four margin strokes on the peloton before the final round. But nothing is played. Especially with the ex-world number 1 Jiyai Shin (card of 64 Saturday for the Korean!) 3rd at -8. Or the young Canadian Brooke Henderson, defending champion at KPMG and who is 4th at - 7. And even more with the pair So Yeon Ryu and Lexi Thompson, tied for 7th at -5. The duo are playing revenge for the first Major of the year, Ana Inspiration, where the Korean, taking advantage of a penalty that fell from the sky, had won in the play-off against the American.