Former UCLA star Patty Tavatanakit extends lead to 5.

Patty Tavatanakit opened a five-stroke lead on another hot and windy afternoon at the ANA Inspiration, all but crushing her challengers’ hopes with a striking combination of power and touch.

A stroke ahead after each of the first two rounds at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, the 21-year-old Thai player shot a 5-under 67 in 100-degree heat Saturday to reach 14-under 202 in the first major championship of the year.

Tavatanakit matched the tournament 54-hole record set by Pernilla Lindberg in her 2018 victory. Dottie Pepper set the overall mark of 19 under in 1999.

Defending champion Mirim Lee and Ally Ewing were second at 9 under in the event being played without spectators for the second time in seven months.

Tavatanakit crushed drives — hitting a 337-yarder on the par-5 11th — and was equally as effective on and around the greens. The former UCLA star birdied the first three holes, holing a 20footer on the par-4 third. She holed a 12-footer for birdie on the par-5 ninth after hitting her second into a greenside bunker, and made a 15footer on 11 to open a fivestroke lead.

After a series of par saves, she couldn’t get a 4-footer to drop on the par-4 12th. She rebounded with a wedge to 4 feet for a birdie on the par-4 13th, and made an 8-footer on the par-4 15th.

Tavatanakit bogeyed the par-3 17th, failing to get upand-down from a difficult lie in a greenside bunker. She escaped the par-5 18th with a par after her third shot spun off the front of the green to the edge of the water.

The tour rookie is trying to become the sixth straight international winner in the tournament celebrating its 50th edition. She won seven times in two seasons at UCLA and had three victories on the Symetra Tour in 2019.

Lee shot a 68, wearing a facemask while she played. The South Korean player won the postponed event in September for her first major title.

Ewing had a bogey-free 66. The American won last year at Reynolds Lake Oconee for her first tour title, playing then under her maiden name of Mcdonald.

Shanshan Feng was 8 under after a 72.

Elsewhere

Jordan Spieth shot a 5under 67 to move into a tie for the lead heading into the final round of the Valero Texas Open.

Spieth and Englishman Matt Wallace are at 12 under after each player birdied their final two holes of the day. Wallace also posted a 67, and Charley Hoffman is alone in third at 10 under after shooting a 65.

Hoffman was seven shots back after a bogey at No. 4, but he finished up with six birdies and sank a five-foot eagle putt at the 14th. He won here five years ago.

• Japanese teenager Tsubasa Kajitani overcame a double bogey on the 17th hole by closing with a superb par save, getting her into a playoff that she won on the first extra hole to capture the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

In a fitting conclusion to a final round filled with more blunders than birdies, she won with a par when Emilia Migliaccio’s delicate chip on the 18th hole in the playoff didn’t clear the sand.