Hee Young Yang has finally moved into a share of the lead at the CME Group Tour Championship, the season finale for the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour.
The South Korean carded eight birdies and no bogeys for an 8-under 64 on the third day of play at the par-72 Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, USA. At 21-under-par 195, Yang is tied for the lead with Nasa Hataoka (JPN), who shaved seven strokes off her total on the day. She will play in the championship group with Hataoka in the final round for the US$2 million first prize.
Allison Lee (USA) made four birdies without a bogey to sit in sole possession of third place with an 18-under-par total of 198. She was followed by Lin Shiyu (CHN), who fired a six-under-par round to move into sole possession of fourth place at 17-under-par 199.
Lee Minjee (AUS) and Yin Luning (CHN) are tied for fifth place at 16-under-par 200. Nellie Koda (USA) holed out at the eighth (par-3) hole for the second straight day, joining Ji-Eun Shin the day before. With her six stroke improvement, Koda is tied for seventh place with Lilia Boo (USA), Brooke Henderson (CAN) and Ataya Thittikun (THA) at 14-under par 202.
Yang continued her hot play in the second and third rounds, carding 17 birdies without a bogey. On the moving day, Yang opened with a birdie on the par-5 first hole, followed by back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth holes and a 50-centimeter birdie on the par-3 eighth hole to drop four strokes in the first half. Yang continued her run in the second round with three consecutive birdies on Nos. 13-15 and a two-foot birdie on No. 17 (par-5) to cut her deficit to eight.
Yang has been called the “Park Se Ri of the Southern Hemisphere. Yang moved with her family to the Gold Coast, Australia, to play golf in 2005 at the age of 15, and made waves when she won the 2006 Ladies European Tour (LET) ANZ Ladies Masters as an amateur at the age of 16 years and 192 days. She went on to win the LPGA Q-school in 2009 and made her way to the United States. To date, she has four wins in LPGA Tour events outside the United States, including three at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Kim is further away from the Bear Trophy, which is awarded to the player with the best scoring average. She is now four strokes behind her closest competitor, Ataya Thitikun (Thailand). Kim carded five birdies and three bogeys on the day to finish in a tie for 17th place at 10-under par 206. Thitikun shaved three strokes off her score to sit in a tie for seventh place at 14-under par 202. He will need to shoot at least six strokes lower than Titicun on the final day to claim the Bear Trophy. 아톰카지노 도메인