Written By: Steve Eubanks jseubanks
Steve Eubanks is a New York Times bestselling author and managing editor for the LPGA.
OCALA, FLORIDA | Few things focus the mind and heighten the senses like a treacherous road never traveled, even if you’ve driven down curling paths before.
Austin Ernst has won twice in her eight-year career on the LPGA Tour. She will almost certainly pass the four-million-dollar mark in career earnings by the summer. And she has hit quality shots under pressure on a winning U.S. Solheim Cup team. As pressure situations go, she’s been there, plenty. But there is one road Ernst has never traveled. She has never led or shared the lead after the second round of an LPGA Tour event. She’s only led after the third round once, and that was because one of her victories, the 2020 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, was a 54-hole event.
March 7, 2021
MIAMI (AFP) – Austin Ernst fired a bogey-free five-under par 67 yesterday to maintain a share of the lead alongside Jennifer Kupcho at the halfway stage of the US LPGA Drive On Championship in Ocala, Florida.
Kupcho, who started the day tied for the lead with Ernst and Nelly Korda, had six birdies and a bogey in her second-round 67 to join Ernst on 10-under 134 – two shots clear of Spain’s Carlota Ciganda who fired an impressive bogey-free round of seven-under 65 for an eight-under total of 136.
Korda, coming off a victory at the Gainbridge LPGA last week, stayed in touch with the leaders with a two-under 70 that left her alone in fourth on 137, two strokes in front of American Jenny Coleman (69).
Photo Credit: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images
Written By: LPGA Communications @LPGA
The LPGA Tour returns to Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club for the first time since 2016 when the venue hosted the second playing of the Coates Championship presented by R+L Carriers won by Ha Na Jang. In 2015, Na Yeon Choi captured the inaugural Coates Championship presented by R+L Carriers. This time around, Golden Ocala is set to host 120 players from March 4-7 including the World No. 1 Jin Young Ko.
Most recent LPGA Tour champion Nelly Korda also highlights the field, as she ventures to Marion County fresh off her win at the Gainbridge LPGA. She is one of two LPGA winners so far in 2021, joined by her sister Jessica Korda, also in the LPGA Drive On Championship presented by Volvik at Golden Ocala field. They are two of eight total players competing this week that call Florida home.
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NAPLES, Fla., Dec. 18, 2020 – After a year disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 is gearing up to be an incredible season for the LPGA Tour. The 2021 LPGA Tour schedule will feature 34 official events across North America, Europe and Asia, with two new events added to the tournament calendar and players competing for a record $76.45 million in official purses.
In a demonstration of partnership with Tour sponsors, all official LPGA events that were postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic will return to the Tour schedule in 2021. There are several adjustments to the schedule given pandemic-related challenges that may arise in early 2021. Namely, full-field events won’t begin until late February, and the usual Spring Asia Swing has been moved back to late April and early May.