Gee whiz: Chun has Evian lead

SOUTH Korea’s In Gee Chun took command with an impressive record after a third round sixunder-par 65 at the Evian Championship in France yesterday.

Last year’s US Women’s Open champion was in superb form in the final Major of the season and posted a 19-under-par total to move four shots ahead of nearest challenger and compatriot Sung Hyun Park. Park shot 67 and was another two shots ahead of China’s Feng Shanshan (69), with Ryu So Yeon in fourth place on 12 under after a 69.

Catriona Matthew had a 72 for two over par and was well down the field. And, with heavy rain forecast, the final round could turn into a hard slog.

“It’s already very wet and the forecast is terrible,” said the only Scot in the field.

England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff had a wonderful day. She shot a seven-under-par 64 – the joint best of the round – and leapt into the top 15 on five under par.

The final round should belong to Chun. Nineteen under par is the low 72-hole score for a women’s Major and she also has a great chance of bettering the 20 -under-par Major record set by Jason Day at last year’s PGA Championship and matched by Henrik Stenson at this summer’s Open.

“The game plan for tomorrow is just to keep doing the same thing,” said 22-year-old Chun, who is in her first year on the LPGA Tour. “I’m not going to think about winning. I just want to keep enjoying what I am doing.

“I have got more confident as the year went on and getting to play at the Olympics was a huge boost.”

New Zealand’s Lydia Ko had a day to forget. The defending champion had a four-over-par 75 and finished 19 shots behind the leader and just inside the top 40.

In Monza, Alexander Levy produced a brilliant front nine to surge into a one-shot lead midway through the third round of the weather-affected Italian Open.

The Frenchman had started three six shots behind secondround leader Chris Paisley, but eagled the first and turned in 29, before adding three pars on the back nine to sit on 14 under after 12 holes when play was suspended due to darkness.

Paisley turned in level par to sit a shot off the lead alongside Francesco Molinari, Danny Willett and his fellow Englishman Chris Hanson.