Woodlands, Texas — Harlan Liu rounded out a front nine run with a ninth hole chip-in birdie in the Chevron Championship, grabbed in tricky winds for the share of his third round lead with Mao Saigo on Saturday.
On a sunny, sunny day at the first women’s major tournament of the year at Carlton Woods’ club, Ryu released the final nine holes of 4 under 68.
“The back nine was very challenging for me, because the wind was a little stronger and the pin position was very strong,” Ryu said. “And my putter – I’m mostly in the hole, but always go next to the hole and then make some simple pars. But yeah, today was really tough.”
Liu opened on Thursday for a 65-year-old share of the lead with Yang Liu, shooting 74 and defeating two two-strokes. On Saturday, after bogeying on the third hole, she birded the fourth and ran four straight at 6-9. The 24-year-old Korean has won two LPGA Tours.
Saigo won’t win on the LPGA Tour. The 23-year-old Japanese player was the Rookie of the Year on the Tour last season. She tipped in for a birdie on the par 5 13th and then swung the final five holes.
“You have to focus on the golf game, just one at a time,” Saigo said. “And I’m trying to control my mind as well as the golf game.”
Saigo drilled the final five holes after chipping in for a birdie on the par 5 13th to reach 9 under. She also tipped for birdie on No. 6.
“It was a bit hard to make birdies because the course was pretty difficult today,” Saigo said. “Two of them were chip-in birdies from outside, so I was pretty lucky.”
Lindy Duncan suffered a stroke after 70 American-American Sarah Schmerzel had 71 people joining Liu (72) at 7 under.
“This is our biggest stage,” Duncan said, hoping for his first LPGA Tour victory at the age of 34.
Liu, a Chinese player who scored a one-shot edge over the weekend, dropped out of the three-way tie for a lead with a double bogey in par 3 17th place.
Caught in the wind of a 144-yard hole, she approached the bunker, leaving her second position in a thick, rough, rough position above the bunker. She was over 20 feet and was missing twice.
After age 70, Lexi Thompson was the top of the group under the age of six. The 30-year-old Florida player retired from playing full-time at the end of last season. She won the 2014 event (and subsequently the Craft Nabisco Championship) at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, California.
“I look forward to seeing what I can bring tomorrow,” Thompson said.
Top ranked Nelly Corda was evenly tied to 31st place on her title defense. She had a back-to-back double bogeys on the second nine at 71. We didn’t win this season.