After a roller coaster day in Ann Arbor, Ariya Jutanugarn managed to maintain her lead at the LPGA Volvik Championship.
Firm and fast conditions greeted players on Saturday at Travis Pointe Country in what was a dramatic change from the softer conditions players enjoyed on Thursday and Friday which allowed players to go low. Only three players who started the day in the top-10 were under-par on Saturday.
Ariya Jutanugarn took a two-stroke lead heading into Saturday’s third round, but her bogey-free week quickly came to an end when she dropped back-to-back shots at the par 3, third hole and par 5, fourth hole.
"It's not only one bogey. I have like four bogey today," said Jutanugarn. "First bogey I just feel like, really? I miss like 3 feet, I miss my putt, and actually it's just like, putt from pretty hard, because I missed my iron over the pin, so bogey. So it's going to happen anyway. "
It wasn’t until the final hold of the day that Jutanugarn was able to retake the lead, taking advantage of her length to make eagle at the par 5, 18th hole. Jutanugarn struggled to a 73 on Saturday, matching her highest third round score of 2016.
"To me it's very hard today, because very windy, and the green is very, very firm today," Jutanugarn said.
This week, Jutanugarn is hoping to pick up her third consecutive win on Tour, having won in her last two starts where she went low on Saturday with rounds of 63 and 65. Should Jutanugarn win on Sunday, she would become the first to accomplish the feat of winning three consecutive events on Tour since Inbee Park in 2013.
Jutanugarn holds a narrow one-stroke lead ahead of Jessica Korda and Christina Kim at nine-under par. Korda was one of three players who started the day in the top-10 who was able to card an under-par round with a two-under par, 70 on day three.
“I just kept telling myself that pars were good, you know? It is frustrating because you hit some great shots and they don't end up where you think that they should, or like yesterday, they would end up right next to the hole and today it would be, you know, 20 feet away from the hole,” Korda said. “So it was kind of just a little staying patient out there, and just making pars.”
Kim carded the low round of the Tournament on Thursday to take the first round lead and has continued to stay atop the leaderboard. The three-time winner was happier with her putter on Saturday, bouncing back from two early bogeys to finish her day at Even par, right back where she started the day at nine-under par for the Tournament.
"You know, I think any ‑‑ it's the wind, you know, this south/southwest wind," Kim said about the conditions. "It's angled perfectly where there's a lot of into, off the left, or downwind off the left, you know, as opposed to just dead into or straight from nine o'clock or three o'clock, and I think that, you know, it just really brings up a lot of the great characteristics of this golf course."
Hyo Joo Kim was one of three players in the top-10 to post a sub-par round on Saturday, but it wasn’t easy, she hit just eight of 14 fairways and 11 of 18 greens en route to a two-under par, 70 to climb into the top-5. Kim got off to a hot start in 2016, winning the season opening Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic for her second career win on the LPGA Tour, but has posted just one top-10 since. Kim is T-4 with Suzann Pettersen who was also two-under on her day.
Click here for scores from the third round of the LPGA Volvik Championship.
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