SINGAPORE: Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand fought off windy conditions to fire six birdies and improve to 11 under par for the outright lead after three rounds in the HSBC Women’s World Championship on Saturday.
The world’s top female golfer, who is looking for her first win of the year and the 11th of her career, leads Australian Minjee Lee by one stroke. Lee, ranked third in the world, was the runner-up at the Honda LPGA Thailand championship last week.
Jodi Ewart Shadoff of England is another stroke back at 9 under heading into Sunday’s final round on the Sentosa Golf Club’s Tanjong course.
“I’ve been playing pretty good this week but one thing I have to keep doing is just focus on the things I can control,” said Ariya.
The 23-year-old Thai star had no bogeys and no worries with the hard greens that troubled many this week — though a chance for a birdie and a two-shot break at the last hole went wide.
Second-round leader Amy Olson was one under par for the day but lost ground to her rivals and is now 8 under for the tournament. She is tied with Koreans Kim Hyo-joo and Ko Jin-young and Asahara Munoz of Spain.
Olson had an extremely mixed round of one double-bogey, three bogeys and six birdies for a 71.
Former world No.1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand shot 69 to move to 5-under, one shot ahead of Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand.
Lee will play with Ariya in the final group on Sunday, but the stakes are higher in the fourth round.
“I’ve played with her a lot. I think I played with her every single round, so it’s probably going to be four in a row tomorrow.” Lee said. “She’s fast and just good all around.”
Asked if her rival had an “aura about her” going into a final round, Lee wasn’t agreeing.
“I’m not really sure what that means, if you have an aura,” Lee said. “I’m just going to say she’s a great person and it’s nice to play with her.”
Ariya returned the compliment.
“She’s such a great golfer,” she said of Lee. “I feel like she makes everything and has played so well the last three days.”
The Singapore tournament is the last of five events being played in Asian before the LPGA Tour heads to the United States, starting with the Founders Cup in Phoenix from March 21-25. The Tour returns to Asia in October.
