Minjee Lee grabs four-shot lead at Women’s PGA Championship

LOS ANGELES: Australia’s Minjee Lee defied difficult, windy conditions with a remarkable bogey-free three-under par 69 on Saturday to seize a four-stroke lead over Jeeno Thitikul at the Women’s PGA Championship in Texas.

Lee, chasing her third major title, fired three birdies in one of just three sub-par rounds at Fields Ranch East in Frisco, north of Dallas, where soaring temperatures and wind tested golfers for a third straight day.

“I just try to stay patient out there,” the 29-year-old said after building a six-under total of 210. “You can’t get ahead of yourself, especially in these conditions.” Trailing Jeeno by three to start the day, Lee grabbed her first birdie at the ninth, where she blasted out of a greenside bunker to four feet and made the putt.

She finally took control at the par-five 14th, drilling a 19-foot birdie putt as Jeeno three-putted for a bogey that dropped her three strokes back. Lee added a birdie at the 15th, and remained bogey free with a par save at 18 -- where her second shot raced through the green but she chipped to three feet.

“I try to stay within myself and play the shot as best as I could,” she said. “Just stayed patient, just take it as it comes.” Lee, whose 10 LPGA victories include major titles at the 2021 Evian Championship and 2022 US Women’s Open, said there would be plenty of work to do on Sunday despite her four-shot cushion.

“It’s just only getting harder and harder just with I think pressure of a major championship, and also just the course just demands so much from you,” she said. World number two Jeeno’s hopes of a first major title took an early hit with bogeys at the third and sixth.

She rolled in a 12-foot birdie at the eighth, but dropped into a tie for the lead after back-to-back bogeys at 11 and 12. She bounced back from her bogey at 14 with a birdie at 15, but gave back a shot at the 16th, finishing with a four-over 76 for 214.

Lee and Jeeno, both based in the Dallas area, were the only players under par heading into the final round. US veteran Lexi Thompson, playing a limited schedule this season, shook off a horrendous start to post a three-over par 75 to headline a trio sharing third place on one-over 217.

Thompson opened with a triple-bogey and a bogey and added another bogey at the eighth before she made two birdies coming in. She was joined on one-over by South Korean Choi Hye-jin, who carded a 72, and Japan’s Miyu Yamashita, who shot 73.