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Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul shot a nine-under par 63 to take a share of the lead with American Angel Yin after Saturday’s third round of the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship.
A bogey-free round from the 21-year-old Thai star, capped with an eagle at the par-5 17th and a birdie at the 18th, left her level with Yin on 15-under 201 after 54 holes at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples. , Florida.
“I’m just trying to get the lowest score possible,” Jeeno said. “Today is my cadet’s birthday and he will definitely say that because my birthday you shoot like a very good score.
“I hope I can get a big check for him tomorrow.”
China’s Yin Ruoning finished third with 204, three shots behind, ahead of Englishman Charley Hull and South Korean An Na-rin with 205 and American Lucy Li and Russian Nataliya Guseva with 206.
The top 60 players in the season’s points race qualified for the $11 million showdown, which offers a top prize of $4 million.
Jeeno is seeking her fourth career LPGA title after the 2022 JTBC Classic, the 2022 Northwest Arkansas Championship and this year’s Dow Championship pairs event with Yin.
“Whatever happens tomorrow, I consider it a learning experience,” Jeeno said. “It’s not about life and death. It’s just what we play and we’re just trying to get better.”
Yin, ranked 34th, won her only LPGA title last year in Shanghai.
“I felt good. The course I think is quite difficult, I’m so happy with my score,” Yin said. “I score again. I make a few mistakes but I save quite a few, so a lot of positives.”
World number seven Jeeno opened with a birdie and added birdies at the par-3 fifth and eighth holes, then began the back nine with three consecutive birdies.
Jeeno took a share of the lead to 14 under with an eagle at the par-5 17th and took the lead solo with a final birdie.
“Nothing specific,” Jeeno said of his steamy finish. “We know the 17th, it’s par 5, so I’m just trying to hit the second shot on the green, which is easy to do, like an easy birdie. I hit it really well, I went all the way ‘to the hole, and then not so far for the eagle.
“On 18 nothing, I’m just trying to make par. I have no idea how I can make this putt too.”
– ‘We had to keep grinding’ –
Yin birdied the par-3 fifth, then made an eagle at the par-5 sixth, sinking a long pitch just short of the green, and responded to a bogey at seven with birdies at the eighth and ninth.
“I just knew where I had to chip,” Yin said of his eagle. “I had a good line and I just dribbled.”
She added a birdie at the par-3 12th but stumbled on a bogey at the 15th to respond with a birdie at the 17th to regain some of the lead.
“I just knew I had to keep progressing and I had to trust what I’m good at,” Yin said. “It was a little hard, but it was good.”
Top-ranked Nelly Korda, who has already won the LPGA Player of the Year award, closed with birdies on 17 and 18 to shoot a 69.
The 26-year-old American, seeking her eighth title of the season, ranks 207 in a field of eighth place with Frenchwoman Céline Boutier, Japanese Ayaka Furue and South Korean Choi Hye-jin.
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