Hyo Joo Kim (-15) used seven birdies to shoot the second lowest round of her career, a 7-under 64, and take a three shot lead after three rounds at the Marathon Classic Presented by Owens Corning and O-I.
Kim will sleep on the lead going into the final round for the third time in her career. In the two other instances, Kim captured two of her three career wins (2014 Evian Championship, 2015 JTBC Founders Cup).
“A long time I was leading the tournament, so I just feel happy right now,” said Kim. “I will be happy again tomorrow. Every day I'm happy.”
Kim’s round of 64 was the second lowest of her career, being topped only by a 61 in the first round of her major championship victory at the 2014 Evian Championship. The South Korean ranks 11th on Tour in putts per GIR this season and is No. 1 in that statistical category at Highland Meadows this week (1.6 per GIR).
“I hit good drives, good tee shots and iron shots, and I managed to get up-and-down, and I made good putts,” Kim said as she described her round. “It was good.”
Alison Lee and Lydia Ko are tied for second at 12-under par after rounds of 66 and 67, respectively. Ko has placed in the top-4 in each of her last four starts including her third win of the season at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G. Lee has one top-10 on the season and will be chasing her first career victory on Sunday.
“It feels great,” Lee said. “Feels like I'm playing golf again. I'm actually having a great time out there and committing to the shot and watching the ball go where I want it to go. I feel really confident going into tomorrow. It's definitely been a while since I've felt like this, but it was worth the wait.”
Stacy Lewis and Ariya Jutanugarn are four shots back in a tie for fourth at 11-under. The next closest group of players at 8-under par includes Jenny Shin, Lee Lopez and Mirim Lee.
HYO JOO KIM - 2016 IN A NUTSHELL
- Rolex Ranking - 19
- Wins - 1
- Top-10s - 3
- Official Money - $433,681 (18th)
- Race to CME Globe - 1,097pts. (16th)
- ROLEX Player of the Year - 40 pts. (16th)
TOLEDO NATIVE LOOKING TO CAPITALIZE
Stacy Lewis carded a 6-under 65 in the third round of the Marathon Classic Presented by Owens Corning and O-I on Saturday. The Toledo native went bogey free and had six birdies to end the day tied for fourth just four shots away from current leader Hyo Joo Kim.
“I played really solid today,” Lewis said. “It was probably one of the most solid rounds of the year just ball-striking-wise. I felt like I could hit any shot I needed to, was killing my driver, and other than the two 3-woods on the last two holes that I probably could have hit a little better, it was a pretty good day.”
Lewis has made 55 starts on Tour since her last win in 2014 and has 11 runner-up finishes in that span including three this year. With her ties to this tournament and this town, Lewis knows that tomorrow could be a special day and she is looking forward to battling on Sunday.
“It could be a really special day tomorrow,” said Lewis. “I won in Arkansas a couple years ago and I thought that was pretty cool winning kind of in my home state there, and this one would definitely be up there with that.”
PLAYING THROUGH THE PAIN
Australia’s Katherine Kirk tied the lowest round of her season with a 5-under 66 on Saturday, putting her in a tie for eighth heading into the final round. Kirk told reporters she was close to withdrawing after an unfortunate kitchen accident last week left her with five stitches in her left thumb. She has been able to fight through the discomfort so far this week and is poised to post her best result of the year.
“Occasionally in my swing it'll hurt,” Kirk said. “But yeah, Tuesday was the first day I hit balls in nine days. Yeah, I didn't know whether I was going to be able to play, and we just kind of grinned and bear it.”
Ranked No. 250 in the Rolex Rankings, Kirk will try to beat her best result of 2016 on Sunday (T31, ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer). She is playing in her 12th season as an LPGA Tour member and has two career wins with her last coming at the 2010 Navistar LPGA Classic.
SUMMER SCHOOL
Alison Lee is a lot less busy than she was just a few months ago after her spring semester classes at UCLA came to a close. Lee has more time to focus on golf these days, yet she is still taking a couple of online courses this summer and likes to stay busy.
“I kind of like having something to do when I get back,” Lee said. “It keeps my mind off of what's out here, especially going into tomorrow. The last thing I need is to be thinking about tomorrow's round and imagining it over and over again in my head.”
Should Lee capture her first career victory tomorrow, it would be the second consecutive win by an American after Brittany Lang’s victory at the U.S. Women’s Open. The last time that Americans have won in back-to-back LPGA tournaments was in 2015 (Jessica Korda, Sime Derby LPGA Malaysia, 10-11-2015; Lexi Thompson, LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship, 10-18-2015).
QUOTABLE
“As soon as I hit it, it was really solid, and then luckily I saw it. I saw it bounce, the front of the pin, and then hit the pin. I hear the noise. So as soon as it hit the pin, like maybe it's going in, and everybody just crazy, so I kind of same way. I knew it with the crowd, and hear the pin noise. It was a great feeling.”
–Hee Young Park on her chip-in eagle at 18 on Sunday
“You know, at the end of the day I've just got to focus on my game. If I can put some good shots and put myself in good positions to make birdies and put good strokes on it, that's all I can do at the end. I mean, you can see it by a few groups in front of us, there were some low scores, so it shows what can be played and what can happen around this course.”
–Lydia Ko on her approach heading into the final round
OF NOTE
- Leader Hyo Joo Kim is looking to become the seventh player with multiple wins on Tour in 2016.
- This week Alison Lee has put together three consecutive rounds in the 60s for the first time in 2016.
- Alison Lee's best career finish was 3rd place at the 2015 Kingsmill Championship.
- 2013 Marathon Classic champion Beatriz Recari moved up the leaderboard 21 spots from T30 to T9 after a third round 65, her lowest round in 2016.
- Jenny Shin hasn't finished better than T22 in the six starts since her win at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout.
- Six players fired bogey-free rounds on Saturday (Hyo Joo Kim, Lydia Ko, Stacy Lewis, Jenny Shin, Vicky Hurst, Anna Nordqvist).
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