In Gee Chun’s lead is down to 3 at Women’s PGA Championship
Bethesda, Md. — This was the moment the rest of the field needed: In Gee Chun standing near the trees, contemplating her situation and then eventually heading back to the point of her previous shot.
A shaky third round cut her lead at the Women's PGA Championship in half.
Chun shot a 3-over 75 on Saturday, leaving her three strokes ahead going into the final round at Congressional Country Club. On a day the leaders had plenty of trouble, Chun was holding her own until she made a double bogey on the par-5 16th hole.
"Looking forward to an exciting final round already," she said. "If it's going to be too easy, then I feel it is boring."
It looked like the final round might be boring — or at least anticlimactic — as Chun maintained a comfortable lead through much of Saturday. She bogeyed Nos. 1 and 11 but birdied 2 and 12. Her lead was at five when she had to play her third shot from some tall grass on the 564-yard 16th.
That shot put her in even more trouble, in an area with tall grass and some trees. She took an unplayable lie and went back to the previous spot to re-hit.
An 8-iron from there went over the green, but Chun did manage to get up and down for a 7. The twotime major champion from South Korea led by five shots after the first round and six at the halfway point. After the third round, she had an 8-under 208 total.
Lydia Ko (76) and Jennifer Kupcho (74) — Chun's playing partners — had their own problems, but Lexi
Thompson and Hye-Jin Choi both shot 70 and were tied for second with Sei Young Kim (71) at 5 under.
Thompson will play in the final group as she tries for her first major victory since 2014.
"You always want to be in the final group in any tournament," she said. "I love that the hard work has been able to pay off for me. I've been putting in the time, so to see it pay off and pay dividends means the world to me."
Ko wasn't able to take advantage of Chun's struggles. She bogeyed four of five holes during one stretch on the front nine, then birdied four of the next seven.
She wrapped up the round with four straight bogeys.
Kupcho had three birdies and three bogeys in the first seven holes and couldn't gain much ground on the leader.