China’s Feng pursues wire-to-wire victory

BEDMINSTER, N.J. — Saturday at the U.S. Women’s Open was all about defense. The Trump National Golf Club course zealously protected par, while ground and air personnel assiduously worked to keep the First Fan, President Donald Trump, safe.

Of the 62 players who survived the 36-hole cut, 22 are under par for the tournament heading into Sunday’s final round.

Everyone is chasing Feng Shanshan of China, who posted a 1-under 71 for a 54-hole total of 9 under in her bid for a wire-to-wire victory.

The group under par surprisingly includes Cristie Kerr, who carded a 2-under 70 to move into a tie for eighth place, at 4 under, a day after back spasms nearly led her to withdraw.

The group shockingly does not include Stacy Lewis, who made four consecutive birdies starting at the seventh hole to move to within one shot of the lead, at 7 under, only to play the final eight holes in 9 over.

Her round, which she played in a group with Kerr, started to come apart on the par-4 11th, when her second shot went over the green. Her chip trickled through the green like a tear down a face.

Before Lewis’ next shot, the skies above the green erupted in noise. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter chased a small plane, which had infiltrated the no-fly zone over the course, and was quickly joined by a fighter jet.

Lewis hit another chip that rolled back to her feet. She then chipped to the opposite fringe and two-putted for a 7.

Lewis’s nightmare on the back nine culminated with two water balls that led to a 10 on the par-5 18th.

Did the plane’s breach of airspace above the course also trespass into the space between Lewis’ ears, hastening her unraveling? She declined to talk after her round — “No chance,” she said as marched past reporters after signing her scorecard.

Kerr acknowledged that she watched the scene unfold above her, but she suggested it was, if anything, a welcome distraction from the golf shots in front of her.

“I had to look at something else other than what was going on on that hole,” Kerr said, adding that it was “a shame” to see what happened to Lewis on the back nine.

“You never want to see that happen to anybody,” she said.

Kerr, the 2007 U.S. Open champion, was in such pain after her opening 69 that she told her husband, Erik Stevens, “I don’t know how much more I can go.” A few holes into her second-round 73, she appeared to be in such bad shape, Stevens said, that he sent texts to alert tournament staff that Kerr might be withdrawing.

But then Kerr, who started at No. 10, birdied both par 3s on her back nine, and kept going. On Saturday, Kerr was limber enough to execute a few jumping jacks on the par-5 15th green, after one-putting to salvage par. She was trying to get the attention of the president, who was perched in his nearby suite.

His attention was trained on the telecast on one of the suite’s flat-screen televisions, so he did not notice Kerr, who played an occasional round of golf with Trump before he became president, when they both had homes in New York and South Florida.