Ko in hunt to tie up a Thai title

Kiwi golfer Lydia Ko is in the hunt for another LPGA Tour title.

Ko sits in a share of fourth through three rounds in Thailand, just two shots behind Patty Tavatanakit, who maintained her lead but saw a slew of players form a potent chasing pack.

Ko started the day five shots off the lead but carded a five-under par 67 to reduce her deficit. Birdies on three, four and five were slightly halted by a bogey on seven, before a birdie on 12 brought her back to 14-under. A poor tee shot into a bunker on 13 saw her give back that advantage immediately but she finished her round strongly with three more birdies to sit at 16-under going into the final round.

However, as well as requiring another excellent round to claim victory today, Ko will also need to outperform a packed leaderboard.

Tavatanakit birdied her final hole to take the solo lead but is only one shot clear of Caroline Masson and Atthaya Thitikul, while Gaby Lopez sits level with Ko, and Hannah Green is one shot further back after the round of the day, an eight-under 64.

“I feel like I played pretty solid again,” said Ko. “It's definitely nice to get off to a good start. Kind of sets the pace for the day.

“I had a spell of pars where I couldn't really make anything going, but after a mistake, I felt like I was able to kind of get back on track pretty soon after.”

Like in her second round, Ko had some bad luck on the back nine but stayed positive and quickly bounced back.

“I hit a poor drive that was in like this tractor mark inside the bunker, so I pretty much had no shot. And had a very poor third shot again.

“After that, I said, ‘hey, there are still lots of birdie opportunities’, so I felt like I tried to take advantage of that.”

Ko’s playing partner Lopez also spoke to the Kiwi’s positive attitude.

“This is my fourth time playing with Lydia this year, and I've seen the progress I've made mentally and emotionally playing with her.

“It's great. I love playing with her. She transmits a lot of calmness, presence, and I think I just fed off that. She's one of my favourite players to play with on moving day.”