Kim builds 6-shot lead at British Open
I.K. Kim stood on the first tee at the Women’s British Open and seemed to have everything going against her.
The wind was rising. Heavy rain was falling. The temperature was dropping. If that wasn’t enough, Inbee Park had just toured Kingsbarns Links in a course record-tying 64 and was one shot behind. Stacy Lewis, another past Women’s British Open champion, was another shot back after a 65.
Kim answered every challenge Saturday in St. Andrews, Scotland.
In weather that turned out better than expected — only one heavy shower — Kim shot a bogey-free 6-under-par 66 by converting a string of birdie putts. With one round to play, the 29-year-old South Korean was at 17-under 199 and had a six-shot lead over Georgia Hall (70) and Moriya Jutanugarn (67), older sister of defending champion Ariya Jutanugarn.
Lexi Thompson, who started the third round just two shots behind, stumbled to a 74 and wound up 10 shots back.
Kim, five years removed from infamously missing a 1-foot putt that would have won the Kraft Nabisco Championship, now is poised for redemption with her first major.
Even armed with such a substantial lead, there will be pressure on her. Even five years on, the memory lives on of her clasping her hand over her mouth when she missed her tap-in for victory, losing in a playoff to Sun-Young Yoo.
“I have finally been able to let go of that,” Kim said. “I was disappointed with my golf after 2012. I criticized myself too much, which is not healthy. So it was tough. I never stopped liking the game, but what happened did take away some of the joy. I certainly don’t get surprised by anything anymore.”
Should she falter in the race for her first major and the $487,500 first-place prize, there is plenty of experience in her wake — from Park, the biggest star on the LPGA Tour over the past decade, and from Lewis.
Both took advantage of the benign morning weather to make substantial progress up the leaderboard. Park rose from a tie for 48th to a tie for fourth alongside Ally McDonald, who shot a 70. Lewis moved up to a tie for sixth. World Golf Championship: Thomas Pieters of Belgium ended his roller-coaster round with his eighth birdie, a 30footer that rammed into the back of the cup for a 4-under 66 that gave him a share of the lead with Zach Johnson in the Bridgestone Invitational at Akron, Ohio.
Pieters, who led by as many as three shots with his strong start Saturday, ran into trouble off the tee and kept dropping shots on the back nine. Moments after Johnson holed a 10-foot birdie on the 18th for a 65 to take the lead, Pieters joined him with his long putt.
They were at 9-under 201. PGA Tour: Greg Owen of England had nine birdies to take five-point third-round lead of the Barracuda Championship at Montreux Golf and Country Club in Reno.
Owen had eight birdies and three pars on 11 holes before a double-bogey on 18 to finish a 14-point round in the modified Stableford scoring system that gave him 37 points going into Sunday’s final round.
Stuart Appleby and Derek Fathauer both had birdies on 18 to finish round three tied for second with 32 points. Ricky Barnes had 15 points, including five consecutive birdies, to move up 14 spots into fourth place with 31 points. Champions Tour: Paul Goydos shot a tournament-record 60 and is tied with Kenny Perry and Gene Sauers at 14-under 130 after two rounds of the 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn.
Goydos, who shot 59 at the PGA’s 2010 John Deere Classic, was 7-under through 12 holes, before birdies at 15, 16 and 17 and an eagle on the par-5 18th. He needed one putt on 16 greens and two on the others.