HAINAN ISLAND, China – How’s this for a birthday present?

Gaby Lopez turned 25 on Friday and celebrated with a hole-in-one that helped her to a 6-under-66 and a one-stroke lead over Ariya Jutanugarn after the third round of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament.

Even better, Lopez will be after her first career U.S. LPGA Tour victory in the final round on Saturday and will play in the last group with Ariya, the No. 1-ranked golfer. They also played together on Friday at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Club.

“I have been waiting for this moment,” the Mexican said. “I’m very lucky to share the course with the best player in the world. You know, I had fun. I enjoyed today.”

Lopez aced the 17th, knocking in a 7 iron from 181 yards. She also had six birdies including three to open the round. She said it was her eighth hole-in-one.

“As soon as the ball left the club I knew it was a good shot, but I couldn’t see because the sun was in my face,” Lopez explained. “I turned around and my caddie goes, ‘It went in.’ I couldn’t give myself a better birthday present.”

Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., is 4 over for the tourney and 13 shots off the lead. Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont., is 8 over.

Jutanugarn, of Thailand, led by four strokes after the second round but slipped to a 71, which included a bogey on the final hole.

Sung Hyun Park shot a 67 and fellow South Korean Sei Young Kim had a 68 to put them both five strokes behind the leader.

The tournament wraps up five straight weeks of play for the tour in Asia.

HAINAN ISLAND, China – Top-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn shot a 4-under 68 to take a four-stroke lead at the halfway point of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament.

Jutanugarn had birdies on the final two holes – and four of the closing seven – on Thursday to take command over the rest of the field at 7-under 137.

Jennifer Song, Moriya Jutanugarn, and Gaby Lopez shot 71s and were in a tie for second at 3-under.

The leader is likely to play in a group on Friday with her older sister.

“I haven’t played with her for so long,” she explained. “We have so much fun. At the same time we didn’t talk much when we played … especially when there are three players in the group.”

She said all the talk would distract the other player.

Jutanugarn said the sisters have played together before, but never in the same group on the final day. She said they are sharing the same living quarters this week. But she went on to explain they are very different characters.

“I think we are very nice to each other when we’re on the golf course, but off the golf course I think we not nice to each other,” she joked.

Between siblings, old habits die hard.

“You know, she’s really professional,” Ariya said of her sister. “So her room is so clean. I throw everything. She yells at me every day.”

First-round leader Thidapa Suwannapura carded a 75 and fell six strokes behind the leader.

Canadian Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., slipped in the second round with a 4-over 76 to fall into a tie for 11th after holding 2nd place in the first round.

The Blue Bay tournament is the last of five on the LPGA Tour’s Asian swing.

HAINAN ISLAND, China – Two golfers from Thailand and one Canadian were at the top of the leaderboard after Wednesday’s first round of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament.

Thidapa Suwannapura shot a 4-under 68 to lead the tournament by one shot from her compatriot Ariya Jutanugarn and Alena Sharp of Canada.

“Nice to get a good round under your belt to start the week. I love coming here,” said Sharp. “I’ve played well here before. The first year I was here I think I had a Top 5.”

Sharp battled the windy conditions to post a 3-under-par 69 in Thursday’s opener and is building on a positive outlook for the future after admitting she wasn’t very pleased with this past season.

“I’m trying to gain more distance,” said Sharp, who is teeing up this week for the first time since the Evian Championship in mid-September. “That’s my overall goal with the driver. I’m not working on that right this second. That’s kind of after this tournament. Work into that and get in the gym more and get some more speed that way.”

Sharp did compete in a Cactus Tour event last week, emerging victorious and adding a pep to her step as she came to China. A good finish this week could earn her a spot in next week’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, but that’s not immediately on Sharp’s mind. She just wants to feel good about her game.

“There is always light at the end of the tunnel. Finishing off on a good note and getting ready for next year is my main goal for this week,” said Sharp. “I didn’t really have a lot of expectations coming in. I’m not thinking about CME. It would be nice to play next week, but if that happens that’s just a bonus.”

Six other players, including three other Thai players, were two shots back and five others were three off the lead in the 72-hole tournament, which concludes the LPGA’s Tour’s Asian swing.

“It’s getting better every year,” Suwannapura said of women’s golf in Thailand.

Suwannapura gave her iron play credit for her round, beating windy conditions that she said she seldom sees at home.

After undergoing surgery on her back almost two years ago, she’s still rebuilding her game.

“After surgery I had to change my swing a little bit,” she said. “I could not use the same muscles. I usually use a lot of my back, and then broke my back – and then I had to use some other parts.”

She said her back was getting “better and better,” but lamented her putting.

“I feel like putting, it’s a weakness of my game,” she said. “I hit it so straight. I hit a lot of fairways. … Putting, just please putting.”

SHIGA, Japan – Local favourite Nasa Hataoka shot a 5-under 67 on Sunday to win the Japan Classic for her second LPGA title of the season.

Hataoka offset a pair of bogeys with seven birdies at the Seta Golf Club to finish at 14-under 202, two strokes ahead of compatriots Momoka Ueda, Saki Nagamine and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, who all shot 68.

Hataoka, who also won the Arkansas Championship in June, started the final round four strokes behind second-round leader Minjee Lee. Lee quickly faded, playing the opening nine at 7-over 43 and opening the door for Hataoka, who played the same stretch at 4-under 36. Hataoka had a setback after the turn, carding consecutive bogeys at the 11th and 12th and allowing Ciganda to briefly pull into a tie for the lead. But Hataoka regained her confidence with a clutch par save at No. 13, and her birdie at No. 14 reclaimed the lead.

“I realize something has to come to me and I had to get through it, and I knew it was at the 13th hole,” said Hataoka of the putt that saved her round. “I was not totally comfortable with the shot, but I was calm enough to play well on that hole.”

Ciganda had a chance to tie Hataoka at No. 18 but left her birdie putt from above the hole too short. Hataoka’s birdie putt fell, clinching a hard-fought home win.

South Korean golfers Jin Young Ko (66) and Ji-Hee Lee (68) were tied for fifth at 11-under 205.

Lee struggled with her game and had back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 7 and 8 as part of a 78 that left her tied for 15th.

“I didn’t hit the shots that I wanted very solid,” Lee said. “So obviously it didn’t go the way I wanted.”

The LPGA stop in Japan is the fourth of five consecutive tournaments across Asia.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson finished in a tie for 41st.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The LPGA Tour announced today that Ariya Jutanugarn has earned the 2018 Rolex Player of the Year award, the second time in three seasons that the long-hitting Thai has secured this prestigious accolade.

With three events remaining on the 2018 LPGA Tour schedule, Jutanugarn leads the standings with 219 points, 83 ahead of second-placed Sung Hyun Park, and cannot be caught. Minjee Lee is third, with 122 points, and Brooke Henderson is fourth, with 110.

“It feels great to win this award for a second time, and I’m really excited about that,” said Jutanugarn, a 10-time winner on the LPGA Tour who returned to the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings on Monday. “I’ve played well this season and it’s a huge honor for me to have my name on this trophy again. I would also like to thank my entire team. I am grateful to be working with all of them, and I am blessed to have my family and my sponsors who believe in me. I would also like to thank all my fans in Thailand. I am really proud to be from Thailand, and to win this prestigious award.”

Jutanugarn has produced electrifying form on the LPGA Tour this year, winning three times and recording 12 additional top-10 finishes in 25 starts. She claimed her first victory of the season in May at the Kingsmill Championship presented by GEICO, then added a second just two starts later at the U.S. Women’s Open, where she edged out Hyo Joo Kim after four extra holes to secure the second major title of her career. Another win followed for Jutanugarn at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open in July, when she fired a 5-under 66 in the final round to triumph by one shot over Minjee Lee.

With three events still to be played this season, Jutanugarn leads the LPGA Tour in multiple statistical categories. She heads the Official Money List with $2,459,240 in season earnings, is No. 1 in scoring average at 69.379 and sets the pace in the CME Race to the Globe standings with 4,002 points. She also leads the way with total birdies (421) and top-10 finishes (15).

Jutanugarn will receive the Rolex Player of the Year award at the 2018 Rolex LPGA Awards ceremony, to be held on Thursday, Nov. 15, at Tiburon Golf Club during the week of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

In 2016, Jutanugarn clinched the Player of the Year award for the first time after a dominant season in which she led the Tour with five victories and recorded 11 additional top-10 finishes. She became only the second player to win the Rolex Player of the Year, Race to the CME Globe and the LPGA Official Money Title in the same season, emulating Lydia Ko (2015).

Since its inception in 1966, there have been 13 multiple winners of the Rolex Player of the Year award: Kathy Whitworth (1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973); Joanne Carner (1974, 1981, 1982); Judy Rankin (1976, 1977); Nancy Lopez (1978, 1979, 1985, 1988); Beth Daniel (1980, 1990, 1994); Betsy King (1984, 1989, 1993); Pat Bradley (1986, 1991); Annika Sorenstam (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005); Karrie Webb (1999, 2000); Lorena Ochoa (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009); Yani Tseng (2010, 2011); Stacy Lewis (2012; 2014); Ariya Jutanugarn (2016, 2018).

PINEHURST, N.C. – It was the start the Canadian LPGA hopefuls were looking for in the newly revamped LPGA Q-Series segment.

Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee leads the way with sole possession of second place through the opening four rounds of play at 9 under par (68-70-70-71). The Team Canada National Amateur Squad athlete is one of 11 amateurs in the field—four of which are inside the top 10. Among them is top-ranked female and 2017 Canadian Women’s Amateur Champion Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, Colo.

Fellow Canadian Anne-Catherine Tanguay of Quebec City also holds strong positioning at Pinehurst Resort, sitting in solo 10th at 4 under par.

Maude-Aimée LeBlanc of Sherbrooke, Que., is tied for 60th at 9 over.

The 102-player field is in pursuit of the leading Klara Spilkova of Czech Republic. Approximately 45 spots are up for grabs for the 2019 LPGA Tour campaign.

Great first week at #QSeries for @JaclynLee57 and @ACTanguay ! Proud !?? Rest up ????

— Alena Sharp (@AlenaSharp) October 28, 2018

The second week of action will resume from Oct. 31 – Nov. 3 at Pinehurst No. 7.

I haven’t seen No. 7 yet, but I heard that it’s a good course as well. It’s not that we’re starting over next week, but I’m going to kind of view it as starting from day one again,” said Lee, a senior at Ohio State. “I’m excited to go play that course tomorrow and have a good week.”

The field will be 102 players and there will be approximately 45 spots up for grabs for the 2019 season.

Click here for scoring.

TAOYUAN, Taiwan – Nelly Korda shot a 4-under 68 to win the Taiwan Championship on Sunday for her first LPGA tour title.

Korda – the younger sister of Jessica Korda, who has won five titles on the LPGA tour – had an eagle on the par-5 sixth hole and added two more birdies at the Ta Shee Golf and Country Club to finish at 13-under 275. She was two strokes ahead of Minjee Lee, who shot a bogey-free 66.

“Truthfully, I cannot put it into words,” Korda said. “It still hasn’t hit. It’s definitely one of the best days of my entire life. I can finally check that off of my list, winning an LPGA event, something that I dreamed of ever since I started playing.”

Korda got her first birdie of the day on the par-4 No. 4 before the eagle on the sixth hole.

“I was hitting it really well on the front nine,” Korda said. “I mean, I played really solid. No. 4 is definitely probably one of the hardest holes on this golf course because you have such a long approachnto the green.”

Ryann O’Toole carded seven birdies – including four of the last five holes – against a pair of bogeys for a 67 and sole possession of third place at 10-under 278.

“I just put myself in position and made putts,” O’Toole said. “I bogeyed the first hole and I think the best thing I could have done was stay in the moment after that.”

Carlota Ciganda offset two bogeys with five birdies for a 69 that left her tied for fourth with Megan Khang (71).

Local favourite Wei-Ling Hsu, who held a share of the lead with Korda after the third round, had five bogeys and closed with a 74 to finish tied for sixth with Lydia Ko (72).

Canadian Brooke Henderson (75) tied for 38th.

PINEHURST, N.C. – The rain-delayed third round didn’t seem to cause Canadian LPGA hopeful skip a beat on Satuday as the duo picked up right where they left off.

Team Canada National Amateur team athlete Jaclyn Lee has strung together three consistent rounds (68-70-70) to sit at 8 under par, three off the pace. Lee, a senior at Ohio State, had an up-and-down round that featured an eagle and three birdies against three consecutive bogeys. The Calgary native is one of 11 amateurs in the field this week at Pinehurst Resort.

Fellow countrywoman Anne-Catherine Tanguay had similar fortunes in the third round. The Quebec City native posted six birdies on the day before giving three strokes back with a triple-bogey on her final hole of the day. The 24-year-old holds a share of 5th place at 3 under par.

One of @ACTanguay’s six birdies on the day at LPGA #QSeries. The #TeamCanada Young Pro Squad member sits T5 through 3 rounds ???? pic.twitter.com/J5S4EDALM6

— Golf Canada (@GolfCanada) October 27, 2018

Czech Republic’s Klara Spilkova paces the field at 11 under par (70-66-69).

Maude-Aimée LeBlanc of Sherbrooke, Que., continues her fight to get into contention. She currently sits well back in a tie for T59 at 7 over par.

The field will be 102 players and there will be approximately 45 spots up for grabs for the 2019 season.

Click here for scoring.

TAOYUAN CITY, Taiwan – Nelly Korda shot a 3-under 69 to share the lead with Wei-Ling Hsu after three rounds of the LPGA Taiwan Championship on Saturday.

Playing in front of a home crowd, Hsu finished with an even-72 on Saturday after shooting 68 and 67 in the first two rounds.

Korda and Hsu have a total of 9-under 207 and both will be looking for their first LPGA titles in Sunday’s final round at the Ta Shee Golf and Country Club.

“I think I’ll definitely be a little nervous,” Korda said of Sunday’s round. “Anyone who is in contention on a Sunday will obviously feel those types of feelings. But I’ll also be excited and just happy to be in that position.”

Korda will be playing in the final round with Hsu, who she knows will be the crowd favourite.

“Wei-Ling was playing right behind me (today), but you heard a couple roars,” she said. “I think it’s awesome to see how much they support women’s golf out here and just how they support a home player is really great. It’s really nice to see.”

Korda, the sister of fellow LPGA player Jessica Korda, dropped a shot on No. 13 but birdied two of the last five holes to move into a tie atop the leaderboard.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., put up a 1-over 73 to sit in a tie for 25th. The 21-year-old will look to rebound in Sunday’s final round at 8:44 a.m. local time.

Five players are within two shots of the leaders: Jin Young Ko (69), Bronte Law (69), Megan Khang (70), Lydia Ko (72) and Jodi Ewart Shadoff (73).

“There’s a lot of girls stacked up on the leaderboard,” Korda said. “So you know, I’m just going to be one of those girls that’s fighting for it.’

PINEHURST, N.C. – A pair of Canadians made their mark on Thursday in the second round of the first instalment at the inaugural LPGA Q-series event.

Team Canada National Amateur athlete and 18-hole leader Jaclyn Lee continued her cinderella story, carding an even-par 70 to sit in solo second at 6 under par behind Klara Spilkova of Czech Republic. Lee, a 21-year-old Calgary product, is one of 11 amateurs in the field.

“I like this golf course, it’s a bit of a placement golf course off the tee sometimes,” said the Ohio State senior. “I just think that it warrants good shots, kind of like No. 2, I just like those kinds of golf courses.”

Not far behind was Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Anne-Catherine Tanguay of Quebec City, who quietly crept inside the top 10 thanks to a 73-70, which puts her at 1 under for the tournament.

“I think it helped me to test my game and see where it’s at,” said Tanguay. “That’s pretty much why I played those events, to see what I had to work on. It was good because I had about four weeks to work on my game afterwards. It was really good to be home and I feel pretty good, pretty ready and feel good about my game too. The biggest thing is to stay patient.”

Fellow Quebec native Maude-Aimée LeBlanc struggled with a 4-over 76 — she sits at 10 over par.

The field will be 102 players and there will be approximately 45 spots up for grabs for the 2019 season.

Click here for scoring.