LPGA Tour Season Finale 2012 (UPDATE) -U.S. Women’s Open champion Na Yeon Choi was steady after a careless three-putt bogey early in her third round Saturday at the Titleholders and finished with a 3-under 69 to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the LPGA Tour season finale.
Choi limited her mistakes, even as those around her were dropping shots in a tough wind at The TwinEagles Club.
Ai Miyazato quickly gave up her one-shot lead at the start of the round when a chip rolled back to her feet beyond the par-5 second hole and led to double bogey. Brittany Lincicome missed a 3-foot par putt on the second hole and hit a chip that never came close to reaching the green on the third hole.
They all did well to stay in the hunt.
Choi hit a hybrid 5-wood to 15 feet for birdie on the par-3 17th and closed with a two-putt for par to reach 12-under 204. That gave her a one-shot advantage over Miyazato, who made four birdies on the back nine and salvaged a 71.
So Yeon Ryu, LPGA rookie of the year and one of Choi’s best friends, ran off four straight birdies on the front nine before cooling off for a 66. She was two behind.
Karrie Webb made her blunder late, but it was a big one.
She pulled her approach on the 18th to the left, and the ball bounced down a walkway and under a table. She had to stick four tees in the ground to get relief twice, from a picket fence and the corner of a grandstand. Her chip went through the green and next to the grandstand, leading to another free drop. Her next chip came out heavy and rolled back against the grandstand, and a third drop. Webb had to hole a 15-foot putt for double bogey, dropping her back to a 71, five shots behind.
Lincicome overcame her consecutive bogeys for a 70 and was at 9-under 207 with Karine Icher, who also had a 70.
Stacy Lewis, the LPGA player of the year, won’t be winning the money title. The 27-year-old American has to win the Titleholders and its $500,000 prize to have any chance of catching Inbee Park, but Lewis had a second straight 72 and was 10 shots out of the lead at 214.
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