Yang takes lead at Blythefield with her third straight 67

BELMONT, MICH.>> Amy Yang birdied all five par 5s at Blythefield and shot her third straight 5- under 67 to take the third- round lead Saturday in the Meijer LPGA Classic.

Yang rebounded from bogeys on the par- 3 11th and 13th to birdie the par- 5 14th, par- 4 17th and par- 5 18th to reach 15- under 201 on the tree- lined course.

“All week my ball- striking has been really good,” Yang said. “I was giving myself good chances out there. I was a little bit off with putting speed during the round, made a couple mistakes, but I tried to stay patient and just keep trying throughout the round.”

The 33- year- old Yang has won all four of her LPGA Tour titles in Asia — the LPGA KEB- Hanabank in 2013 in her native South Korea and the Honda LPGA Thailand in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

The Grand Rapids- area event is the final tournament before the major KPMG Women’s PGA next week at Baltusrol and the U. S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach on July 6- 9.

“I know KPMG is coming and another two weeks after that U. S. Open is coming,” Yang said. “Always doing my best to win my first major out there. If I play well this week it’ll definitely give me good confidence going into a major.”

Ashleigh Buhai, the 34- year- old South African who won the Shoprite LPGA Classic last week in New Jersey, was a stroke back with second- round leader Ayaka Furue of Japan and Xiyu Lin of China.

Buhai followed a bogey on 17 with an eagle 18 for a 66.

“Mindset is exactly the same as the last few months,” Buhai said. “Just trying to do my job well when I get to the ball. ”

Defending champion Jennifer Kupcho ( 69) was 12 under. Kupcho had an eagle and four birdies, but made three bogeys for the second day in a row.

“Definitely didn’t play as well as I thought I would,” Kupcho said. “Certainly, moving day, did not take full advantage of it. I still kept it together with what I had today and just want to go recover and come out, hopefully, and play well tomorrow.”