Key events
Minjee Lee opens with birdie! She sends her approach into 1 to 12 feet, and walks in the putt. But it’s a careless three-putt bogey for Andrea Lee, and in no time at all, a three-way tie for the lead turns into a two-shot advantage for the 2022 champ!
-6: M Lee (1)
-4: Meechai (1), A Lee (1)
-3: Saso (2), Shibuno (1)
The 2021 champion Yuka Saso has made the first move of the day at the top of the leader board, with birdie at 2. A 30-foot rake. Back on 1, Hinako Shibuno’s 20-foot birdie effort stays stubbornly out on the high side, and the 2019 British Open champion settles for an opening par. Wichanee Meechai doesn’t make hers, though; the first putt is fine, lagged up to four feet from great distance, but she doesn’t learn from Shibuno’s putt and leaves the second one high on the right.
-5: M Lee, A Lee
-4: Meechai (1)
-3: Saso (2), Shibuno (1)
Meechai is going around today with Hinako Shibuno, who is on the green in regulation. Meanwhile back on the tee, the final group take their opening shots. Andrea Lee is looking for her first major; she swishes her drive down the middle. Her namesake Minjee Lee has two majors to her name – this title in 2022 and the Evian in 2021 – and the Aussie bashes long down the left of the fairway, bounding past Meechai’s bunker with ease. Everyone is now on the course. This is on!
Wichanee Meechai knows a thing or two about fast starts. The world number 158 is a surprise contender, which is something she’s been since opening her second round on Friday afternoon with four straight birdies between 10 and 13. She’s been at the top ever since. But it’s not an ideal start for the 31-year-old Thai today; her opening drive stops near the side of a bunker on the left, and she’s forced to stand in the bunker, grip down the shaft, and take a baseball swing at a waist-high ball. The sort of thing that could go horribly wrong and ruin a round almost before it starts … however she’s made some big par saves this week, and is on course for another after clipping the ball 100 yards up the fairway and running it onto the edge of the green! That’s a stunning recovery, one that looked unlikely, and though she faces a long two putts for par, that’s quite the result.
Here we go, then! Lancaster Country Club has been playing hard all right, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a score out there for someone today. The 2020 champion A Lim Kim is currently demonstrating that; the 28-year-old from South Korea started too far back today to challenge, but if she could sell her start to the leaders, she’d be raking in a fair coin. Birdies at 4 and 5, and she’s up to +3 in short order.
Preamble
An absurd number of big names missed the cut at the Lancaster Country Club this week. The defending champion Allisen Corpuz; other former US Open champions Brittany Lang, Ariya Jutanugarn and Chun In-gee; other former major winners in Georgia Hall, Brooke Henderson, Jennifer Kupcho, Patty Tavatanakit and Lydia Ko; the soon-to-be-very-much-missed retiree Lexi Thompson; and of course the world number one Nelly Korda, who Tin Cupped her way to a septuple-bogey 10 (!) at the treacherous par-three 12th on Thursday. The Lancaster Country Club has been playing tough and taking no prisoners.
All that, and yet there’s so much cream risen to the top! Two former US Open champions are in the hunt …
… as well as another former major winner in the Smiling Cinderella …
… while home hero Andrea Lee, plus Thai outsider Wichanee Meechai, who has been making all sorts of putts all week, are hanging on in there. This could be one of the great final rounds, and we’ll get going at 7pm BST. Here’s how the top of the leaderboard looked after 54 holes, featuring the only players currently under par. It’s on!
-5: Minjee Lee, Andrea Lee, Wichanee Meechai
-3: Hinako Shibuno
-2: Yuka Saso
