Green leads at LPGA in South Korea as Jeeno surges

PAJU: Major winner Hannah Green took a two-shot lead into the final day of the LPGA BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea on Saturday as Thailand´s Atthaya “Jeeno” Thitikul surged into contention.

Australia´s Green began the day with the sole lead but three bogeys on the front nine at the Seowon Valley Country Club clouded the picture at the top of the leaderboard.

Green, who won the Women´s PGA Championship in 2019 and has two tournament wins so far this year, turned the tide with two birdies and an eagle on the back nine to move to 18-under par overall.

“I felt like I didn´t actually hit that many bad shots on the front nine, I just couldn´t really get anything going,” said Green, who was 2-under par for the day.

“I guess the momentum from shooting 16-under in two rounds kind of fell off, and I was getting angry at things that I probably shouldn´t have.”

Green said a huge putt for eagle on the 15th green “really changed the momentum”.

“It definitely could have been worse, but I´m really proud that I was able to shoot under par,” she said.

South Korea´s Yu Jin-sung was two shots further back on 16-under par after a 9-under round in which she birdied half of the holes she played.

South Africa´s Ashleigh Buhai was on 15-under, while American Ryann O´Toole and South Korea´s Ryu Hae-ran were both one stroke further behind.

Former world number one Jeeno was on 13-under overall after a scintillating third-round score of 8-under par 64.

“I think focusing is the most important key for me,” said the 21-year-old, who had nine birdies and one bogey.

“The past few days or past few weeks, it´s been really good. And then if I can keep that in my mind, it should be good tomorrow.”

Olympic champion Lydia Ko finished six shots off the pace after a 1-under par round of 71.

Defending champion Minjee Lee put an indifferent start to the tournament behind her to move to 10-under par overall after shooting a 66.

The second round was completed on Saturday morning after heavy rain forced play to be suspended just after 1 p.m. on Friday.