Round three of the LPGA FM Championship was held in soft conditions on Saturday as China’s Miranda Wang seemed to prefer the slower greens as she putted her way to an impressive seven-under-par round three to take the 26-year-old to 18-under for the week, three strokes ahead of the pack.
Wang, an LPGA rookie, posted a faultless bogey-free scorecard, needing only 24 putts throughout her 18 holes.
“This is where all the players want to be, so it’s definitely special going into the final round being the sole leader,” Wang said. “This is what we try to do every week, so I’m just happy that I did my job really well. I hope to continue doing what I did today.”
Wang also made a 40-foot birdie putt on the 14th and ended the day on a streak of 27 consecutive holes without a bogey.
Two players share a tie for second place heading into the final round, and they are USA’s Rose Zhang and South Korea’s Sei Young Kim.
Zhang didn’t let an early bogey dictate her round as the 22-year-old bounced back with six birdies to post a five-under-par round three, taking her to 15-under.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been in contention, so I’m very, very grateful,” Zhang said.
“I needed to grind it out a little bit. I needed to stay focused. But I felt like I took a lot of positives today knowing that I have resilience to play consistent golf and keep trying to be better it”, she added.
It was a tough round for Sei Young Kim as the 32-year-old posted a one-under-par round three but her earlier efforts in rounds one and two also see her head into the final round at 15-under.
Nelly Korda’s search for her first LPGA victory this year likely will have to wait. She was in range when she left the course Friday night, but she could only manage a 70 in the morning and a 70 in the afternoon.
Korda failed to birdie any of the four par-5’s, as she sits nine shots off the lead in T13.
The final round at TPC Boston is set to start at 20:00pm Irish time in much drier conditions.
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