Sei Young Kim blows all but 2 strokes of 8-shot lead in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sei Young Kim had an eight-stroke lead with five holes left Saturday at El Caballero Country Club in the JM Eagle LA Championship. She ended up needing to get up-and-down from off the back of the 18th green to salvage a two-shot advantage.

“Oh, wow, it feels like roller-coaster,” the 33-year-old South Korean said.

Her late meltdown with four straight bogeys gave two-time event winner Hannah Green and others who thought they were playing for second a chance Sunday in the final event before the first women’s major of the season.

“It’s golf. It can be happen again," Kim said. "It’s learn and then learn and learn. Mistake and then learn. Hopefully, success end of the day tomorrow.”

Kim shot a 1-under 71 to get to 15-under 201. Green, the 2023 and 2024 champion at Wilshire Country Club, had a 67 to join Suvichaya Vinijchaitham (67), Jessica Porvasnik (68) and Ina Yoon (71) at 13 under. Former UCLA star Patty Tavatanakit was another stroke back after a 67.

“I’m just going to go out there and play golf,” Tavatanakit said.

The tournament is being played at El Caballero for the second straight year because of course renovations at Wilshire. The Chevron Championship is next week in Houston for the first of the five women’s major tournaments.

A shot ahead entering to day, Kim birdied the par-5 first and all the other odd-numbered holes on the front nine, running in a 20-footer on the par-3 ninth for a seven-stroke lead. She pushed the lead to eight before falling back with the bogeys on Nos. 14-17.

“Every hole is downwind starting 15 until the 18,” said Kim, who hit into the water on 16 going aggressively at a difficult pin. "I was struggling with the downwind today.”

She won the BMW Ladies Championship last year at home in South Korea for the last of her 13 LPGA Tour titles.

“I’m very confident, but I just keep doing what I’m doing the last couple days," Kim said. "That’s what I can do the best. So we’ll see tomorrow.”

Green has three worldwide wins this year — the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore on the LPGA Tour and the Women’s Australian Open and Australian WPGA in her home country.

“I don’t really know where they put the pin locations for tomorrow, but I’m sure they’ll be tricky and there will be some holes that will probably play easy,” Green said. “I’ve noticed the last two days the wind is kind of switched at times so that will be tricky to manage. The ball is going far off the tee.”

Amateur Asterisk Talley was tied for 23rd at 7 under after a 69. The 17-year-old Talley is playing her first event since losing the lead on the back nine in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

During the round, the tournament purse was increased by $1 million to $4.75 million, with JM Eagle CEO Walter Wang announcing the move during an interview on Golf Channel.

The new purse is the highest on the tour outside of the major championships and the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. The winner Sunday will get $712,500, up from $562,500.

“Amazing news for all us players,” Green said.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Hannah Green hits from the fourteenth tee during the first round of the LPGA's JM Eagle LA Championship golf tournament at El Caballero Country Club Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

Sei Young Kim hits from the fifth tee during the first round of the LPGA's JM Eagle LA Championship golf tournament at El Caballero Country Club, Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — San Jose Sharks teenage sensation Macklin Celebrini is open to signing a contract extension this summer after breaking the franchise record for points in a season in just his second year in the NHL.

Celebrini has one year remaining on the three-year, $2.925 million entry-level contract he signed after being drafted first overall in 2024. He is eligible to become a restricted free agent after next season but can sign an extension any time after July 1.

“I’m just open to every possibility,” Celebrini said Saturday at locker clean out day. There’s nothing really that goes into it. It goes hand in hand with me. I want to commit to this team and being here. I love it here. I’m open to whatever happens."

Under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement, this is the last summer that players remaining with their own team can sign extensions for eight years. Starting in September, those deals will be limited to seven years.

Celebrini said he hadn't thought about whether he was interested in a long or short-term deal.

General manager Mike Grier said later that the team would like to get a deal done this summer but added that the team has another year before something needs to get done.

“We’re definitely open to it, and he’s obviously someone we want to be here for as long as possible,” he said. “We haven’t really had any talks or discussions yet, and hopefully you guys won’t know when we do. But obviously it’s something we would like to get done it at some point, but if it’s the case where we don’t get it done, it’s not the end of the world either.”

Celebrini said he has talked to 2023 No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks about the approach. Bedard opted not to sign an extension last summer and will be eligible to be a restricted free agent this summer.

“Connor and I are pretty good friends,” Celebrini said. “I talked to him a little bit just about his situation. He approached it differently, and every guy’s situation is going to be a little bit different.”

Celebrini is coming off one of the greatest seasons ever for a teenager, even if it wasn't enough to send the Sharks to the playoffs. San Jose missed the postseason for a seventh straight season, finishing four points out of the second wild-card spot.

Celebrini had 45 goals and 70 assists with his 115 points breaking Joe Thornton's franchise record of 114 set in 2006-07 and trailing Wayne Gretzky (137 in 1979-80) and Sidney Crosby (120 in 2006-07) for the most in a season for a player before turning 20.

Celebrini's performance generated frequent “M-V-P!” chants from the crowd at the Shark Tank. Celebrini has a chance to be a finalist for the Hart Trophy given to the league's MVP alongside players such as Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon, Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov.

“Those are the guys that I’m looking to to learn from and watch them,” Celebrini said. “They’ve been around for 10-plus years so they’re the guys when I was a kid I was watching and even now I’m still trying to learn them and see what makes them successful. That would be pretty cool.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (71) drives the puck as Vancouver Canucks left wing Liam Ohgren (92) defends during the third period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)