Kang, Hull share KEB Hana Bank lead
Ariya one stroke behind
INCHEON, South Korea, Oct 13, (AP): Danielle Kang and Charley Hull shot 4-under 68s to retain the lead after three rounds of the KEB Hana Bank Championship on Saturday.
Ariya Jutanugarn was one stroke behind after a 69. Kang said. “My caddie talked me through a lot of shots and kept me together when I was getting annoyed. I’m a leaderboard watcher but he just kept telling me, ‘You’re putting great,’ and that kept me in the game.”
Ariya got to 11 under at the turn, but bogeyed the 10th and could birdie only 13th.
“I have a lot of things to work on,” she said. “I missed some shots and started to think about making birdies and catching the leader and that’s not helping. I have to try not to think too far ahead.”
Despite her erratic round, Park was only three shots off the pace, tied for seventh with Seon Woo Bae, who shot 67. Brooke Henderson offset a lone bogey with eight birdies for a 65 that tied her for 10th with four others, including Lexi Thompson (68).
Woodland equaled the course record of 61 on Friday that Justin Thomas shot on his way to winning the event in 2015. The American was again consistent.
“Kind of got a little loose there a little bit on the back nine, maybe ran out of gas a little, but it was nice to finish up with a birdie and get some momentum going into tomorrow,” Woodland said.
Leishman had an eagle and three birdies on his first five holes to be 5 under, but was 1 over on the back nine with bogeys on the 11th and 13th after a birdie on the 10th. “Happy with the round, gave myself a good chance tomorrow, so hopefully I can be hot like I was that first 10 holes today,” Leishman said.
Sharma has already won in Malaysia this year when he clinched the Maybank Championship in February.
“Good thing is that I’ve been in this position before so I know what happens and what my mind goes through, so I’ll just try and relax myself as much as possible,” Sharma said. “The way I’m playing, I’m pretty sure I’ll play well tomorrow as well.”