OCALA, Fla.: Jennifer Kupcho made a 12-foot eagle putt on the final hole to cut Austin Ernst’s lead to a stroke Saturday in the LPGA Tours Drive On Championship.
Kupcho shot a 2-under 70 at Golden Ocala, setting up the eagle with a fairway wood that just cleared the rocks and water fronting the green on the par-5 18th.
Ernst parred the last six holes in a 69. The two-time LPGA Tour winner was at 13-under 203.
Kupcho is winless on the tour. The former Wake Forest star from Colorado won the 2018 NCAA title and the inaugural Augusta National Womens Amateur in 2019 with a back-nine charge.
Albane Valenzuela (66), Patty Tavatanakit (69) and Jenny Coleman (70) were tied for third at 7 under.
Nelly Korda had a 76 to drop to 3 under. She won the Gainbridge LPGA last week at Lake Nona after sister Jessica Korda took the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.
Laura Davies, the 57-year-old Hall of Famer who rebounded from an opening 75 with a 69 on Friday to advance to the weekend at even par, was 4 over after a 76. She’s playing on a World Golf Hall of Fame exemption.