Following her runner-up finish last week at the Dana Open, LPGA Tour sophomore Haeran Ryu finds herself again at the top of the leaderboard, this time with a one-stroke lead heading into the final round of the CPKC Women’s Open.
Ryu shot an exceptional 8-under 64 on Saturday, the second-best round of the day and week at Earl Grey Golf Club, ultimately trading places with America’s Lauren Coughlin, who began the third round with a one-stroke lead over the Republic of Korea native. This is the second time in Ryu’s LPGA Tour career that she has held the 54-hole lead or co-lead in a 72-hole tournament, with the first instance coming earlier this season at The Chevron Championship, where she finished fifth.
“I think because really good finish in the final round last week, I have more confidence for my everything for the golf,” said Ryu, who has seven top-10 finishes this season, the most of anyone on Tour without a win. “Now, I just trust myself and really good score (today), I keep going, I think.”
Starting her round late in the day as low scores were already coming in, Ryu knew birdies were available and started rolling them in right away. She sank four straight one-putts to go 4-under through her first four holes and move to 9-under total, making another on the par-4 6th to climb to 10-under.
Meanwhile, Coughlin was making birdies of her own, carding four in her first six holes before bogeying the seventh hole and making a birdie on the ninth to go out in 31. After Ryu finished the front with three pars to turn in 30, she and Coughlin headed to the back nine tied for the lead at 10-under.
“Every round, I just think about, ‘okay, today I hit under-par scores. That is good thing.’ But start five holes (with birdie), oh, I'm crazy,” Ryu laughed. “Today, weather is much better than yesterday, and every hole's pin location is almost same as a couple of days ago. I want to try to same as yesterday, but I think really good start, that's a good thing, I think.”
Both players birdied 10 and bogeyed 12, still tied as they headed to the 13th tee box, where Ryu would make an important move. Sticking her second shot to within 10 feet, Ryu sank another one-putt for birdie on 13 to beat Coughlin’s par and take a one-stroke lead with five holes to play.
Ryu extended her advantage to three strokes with an incredible 20-foot eagle putt on 14, which elicited a raucous roar from the Canadian crowds. But Coughlin stayed patient, making a birdie on 14 and adding one more on 17 to end the day just one shot back of Ryu, who finished with four straight pars.
“(I) hung in there for sure. (Haeran) was making everything there to start, so I was just trying to stay in my own bubble and not get too into what she was doing as well, which was hard when she's playing as good as she was,” said Coughlin of her third round. “Again, I felt like I hung in there and was able to go blow for blow pretty much most of the day.”
After two days of high scores at Earl Grey Golf Club, Japanese rookie Mao Saigo broke the mold on Moving Day, firing an unbelievable bogey-free, 11-under 61 to break the 18-hole tournament scoring record at the CPKC Women’s Open that has stood since 2009. Starting the day at T46 and 3-over overall, Saigo went 31-30 on the front and back nines, respectively, going 9-under in a 10-hole stretch from holes eight to 17 and ultimately finishing her round with the clubhouse lead. At the end of the third round, Saigo now sits in a tie for third alongside Rose Zhang.