Min-jee overcomes triple bogey to stay in the lead
LOS ANGELES: Lee Min-jee overcame a triple bogey to take the lead into the final round of the Los Angeles Open golf tournament.
Min-jee shot a four-under 67 to reach 11-under 202 at Wilshire Country Club. She birdied the first two holes before dropping the three strokes on the par-four third after her second shot clipped a tree branch and her 50-yard third went over the green.
The 22-year-old Australian rallied with birdies on Nos. 5, 6, 10, 14 and 17 – all par fours – for a one-stroke lead over Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen.
“Sort of fought my way back to my score today,” Min-jee said. “After that (triple) I wasn’t super nervous or anything.
“I just sort of tried to believe in myself and just go out there and make as many birdies as I can, try and hit as many good shots as I can.”
Ranked fourth in the world, Minjee won the last of her four LPGA Tour titles in May in Michigan in the LPGA Volvik Championship. She tied for third last week in Hawaii for her third top-three finish of the season.
“Both of us, Nanna and I, we made a lot of birdies today,” Min-jee said. “I think we sort of fed off each other, which was really nice. Yeah, nice confidence for tomorrow.”
The 24-year-old Koerstz Madsen also shot 67.
“I’m glad to be done,” Koerstz Madsen said. “I got the putter going on the last couple holes, but it was a little bit shaky all day kind of.”
She’s trying to become the first LPGA Tour winner from Denmark
Park In-bee was seven-under after a 68. The South Korean star has 19 LPGA Tour victories – seven in Majors – but is winless in more than year.
“It’s extremely hard to stay patient on these greens,” In-bee said.
“I really feel like I should be 15-under easily by now. These greens are just so complicated, and you can’t be aggressive or it’s either you leave it a foot short or you’re five feet by.”
Top-ranked Ko Jin-young and Morgan Pressel were six-under. Jinyoung had a 67. She’s the only player with multiple victories this year, taking the Founders Cup in Phoenix and the Major ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage. — AP