Source : ABC NEWS
Australian star Minjee Lee scored a timely birdie on the 18th hole of her third round at the first women’s major of the year, keeping herself within reach of the leaders heading into the final round.
Two birdies on the back-nine gave Lee and even-par 72 The Club at Carlton Woods, in Texas, leaving her four-under for the tournament.
The Australian is in a tie for 15th of a log-jammed leaderboard, five shots behind South Korea’s Haeran Ryu and Japan’s Mao Saigo.
Lee struggled on the front-nine with a double bogey on the sixth hole.
A birdie on the par 3 eighth was nullified with a bogey on the next hole.
But birdies at the 13th and 18th, both par 5s, kept the two-time major winner in the hunt.
Lee will play in the sixth-last group in the final round, teeing off at 1:41am AEST, Monday.
South Korean Ryu capped a front-nine run with a chip-in birdie on the ninth hole, then held on in tricky wind conditions for a share of the third-round lead with Saigo.
On a gusty, sunny day in the first women’s major tournament of the year, Ryu parred the final nine holes for a 4-under 68. Saigo followed with 69 to match Ryu at nine-under.
“The back nine was so challenging for me because the wind started a little more stronger and the pin positions were so tough,” Ryu said.
“And my putter — almost in the hole but always go next to the hole and then make some easy pars. But, yeah, it was so hard today.”
Ryu opened with a 65 on Thursday for share of the lead with Yan Liu, then shot a 74 to fall two strokes back.
On Saturday, after a bogey on the third hole, she birdied the fourth hole and ran off four straight birdies from holes six to nine. The 24-year-old South Korean player has two LPGA Tour victories.
Saigo is winless on the LPGA Tour. The 23-year-old Japanese player was the tour’s rookie of the year last season.
“I just need to focus on my golf game, just one by one,” Saigo said. “And not only golf game, but try to control my mental, too.”
ABC/AP
