FRISCO, Texas — Two-time main champion Minjee Lee took over the lead with the primary bogey-free spherical for anybody throughout a windy week on the KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship, a 3-under 69 within the third spherical Saturday to maneuver 4 strokes forward of Jeeno Thitikul.
Lee received to 6-under 210 after starting the spherical three strokes behind Thitikul, the world No. 2 who led alone on the finish of every of the primary two days.
Lee, the Australian who lives in close by Irving, went in entrance with a 2-foot par on the 405-yard twelfth gap when Thitikul had her second consecutive bogey, and fourth of the day on strategy to a spherical of 76.
Removed from tree-lined Sahalee exterior Seattle the place the Girls’s PGA was final 12 months, Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco is way more open and uncovered to the ever-present Texas wind that was the strongest it had been all week. There have been gusts of greater than 30 mph Saturday, with a lot the identical forecast for the ultimate spherical. Temperatures have been once more within the mid-90s.
Nelly Korda, the world’s top-ranked participant, described the circumstances as “simply brutal” after her spherical of 72 that started with back-to-back bogeys however ended with two birdies down the stretch. She had 5 birdies and 5 bogeys and is tied for sixth at 2-over 218.
Lee and Thitikul have been the one gamers nonetheless underneath par. Lexi Thompson (75), after a triple-bogey begin, was tied for third at 1 over with Hye Jin Choi (72) and Miyu Yamashita (73).
Thitikul had the one birdie Saturday among the many 78 gamers on the 172-yard, par-3 eighth gap, which usually performs downwind and the place solely 29% of the tee photographs all week have stayed on the inexperienced. That 13-foot birdie was her first of the day and received her to five underneath, two strokes forward of Lee.
However Thitikul’s lead was gone after back-to-back bogeys on the again facet. She pushed a 4-foot par likelihood previous the outlet on the 383-yard eleventh, her first miss inside 5 ft this week. Then her drive on the 417-yard twelfth gap went means proper right into a penalty space, and Lee went forward to remain.
Lee, who received the 2022 U.S. Girls’s Open and 2021 British Girls’s Open, was regular Saturday with eight consecutive pars earlier than a 4-foot birdie on the 487-yard ninth gap. Her different birdies have been an 18-footer on the 515-yard, par-5 14th and a 1 1/2-foot on the bunker-surrounded 236-yard par 4 fifteenth gap.
Thitikul had her third bogey in a four-hole stretch when three-putting from 50 ft at No. 14.
Semi-retired Thompson, within the second-to-last group, hit her tee shot into the green on the 517-yard par-5 first gap, a 207-yard drive into the wind. However she topped her second shot that went solely 117 yards, indicating to her caddie that the wind had her off steadiness, after which shanked her subsequent shot proper, a ball that was by no means discovered for a penalty on strategy to triple bogey. She adopted with one other bogey on the second gap, however had two birdies and just one bogey the remainder of the way in which.
Thompson, taking part in for the seventh time in 16 tournaments this season, received her solely main within the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship, however her 13 top-five finishes in majors since 2013 are essentially the most by any participant and amongst her 20 top-10 finishes in these occasions.
LPGA rookie Rio Takeda opened with a bogey 6 on the first gap after beginning the spherical tied with with Lee for second place. Takeda later had a pair of double bogeys, together with the 315-yard par-4 seventh gap the place her drive wound up within the higher face of a greenside bunker that left her with a clumsy stance and unable to get the ball out on the primary attempt.
Grace Kim had one of the best spherical of the day with a 68 that included six birdies and two bogeys, transferring up from a tie for 68th to tied for tenth. Minjee Lee and Andrea (71) had the one different under-par rounds.
Kim, among the many 11 gamers who received to the weekend proper on the 7-over reduce, teed off at 6:55 a.m. native time, six hours earlier than the ultimate group of Thitikul and Lee went off the primary gap.
There was even a hole-in-one, Brianna Do acing the 150-yard fourth gap. It was the third within the final 4 years within the Girls’s PGA.
