Sara Byrne has climbed inside the top 15 after a moving day 68 at New Korea Country Club and is just one good round away from wrapping up full status for 2027 and a place in the season-ending championship.
The Rebel County native shot an opening, level-par 72 in the Aramco Korea Championship and followed with a 69 to comfortably make the cut, then put on a ball-striking clinic on Saturday, finding 10 of 14 fairways and 17 of 18 greens in regulation.
Birdies on the third, seventh and eighth holes saw her off to a fast start before a mistake on the ninth – a three-putt bogey which was her only dropped shot of the day – saw her make the turn at two-under for the day and -5 overall.
That bogey temporarily halted her momentum and though she had birdie putts on each of the next five holes, she had to settle for pars but broke the two-putt streak by rolling in a birdie putt on the par-3 15th and then added another on the par-5 17th which took her to seven-under overall and finished the day tied for 13th.
Byrne came into the week ranked 59th on the LET Order of Merit with the leading 70 retaining full playing privileges for 2027 and the top 64 qualify for the the season-ending Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de Espana with just three regular season events remaining.
Anna Foster was the only other Irish woman to make the cut, but a level-par 72 that featured three birdies and three bogeys left her in a tie for 45th.
At 38th on the Order of Merit, the Elm Park woman is already assured of her status next season and of her berth in the grand finale, but she’ll be keen to close out the week strongly regardless.
Japan’s Miyu Yamashita holds onto top position on the leaderboard, but her advantage has been halved and she’ll take a one-stroke lead into the final round. The 2025 AIG Women’s Open champion is already a two-time LPGA Tour winner and one-time Japan LPGA winner in 2026, and is now looking to claim her first regular LET victory.
The 25-year-old finished with back-to-back birdies to card a four-under 68 that moved her to -13 overall, with Yani Tseng of Chinese Taipei in solo second and Celine Herbin-Marshall of France in third at -11.
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