There is still plenty of ground between AIG Women’s Open leader Miyu Yamashita and the Australian chasing pack, but Steph Kyriacou and Minjee Lee did their best to climb the leaderboard in the third round at Royal Porthcawl.
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Lee, playing alongside the third Aussie to make the cut, Grace Kim, fired a four-under 68 to rise 35 places and sit in a tie for 18th at two-under-par.
Kyriacou similarly made her run on the front nine for a three-under round and championship total to share 11th spot, six behind Yamashita’s nine-under mark on a congested leaderboard.
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The Aussie pair are planning all-out attack on the final day as they chase what would be the most unlikely of three straight women’s majors for their country.
“I think tomorrow is going to be go as low as I can. I’m probably too far back,” was Lee’s assessment having finished before the strong afternoon wind made scoring more difficult.
Kyriacou adding: “I’m pretty sure I have to chase – foot on the gas… You just have to be brave and play with the elements out there. I did a good job of that today. Just do that again tomorrow.”
Kyriacou’s “good job” started with five straight pars then back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh holes, before adding another at the par-5 ninth. The 24-year-old then went on another par run, making six in a row, until the long par-4 16th caught her for a third dropped shot in three days.
“I think if you drop one in those four holes you’ve done average or good,” she said of the stretch from holes 14-17.
“That 17th, or the 16th hole always gets me. Hopefully can par it tomorrow.”
The Sydneysider again saved some of her best for the last hole, where she holed out for an eagle on day two. This time, Kyriacou’s chip from long left of the par-5 green left eight feet for birdie, which she duly holed as she headed for sustenance and some more competition.
“Probably going to play table tennis now and eat,” she said of her immediate plans before doing some light practice.
Chasing a career Grand Slam, Lee looked threatening from the outset when striking beautiful approach shots into Porthcawl’s progressively firmer greens, although the birdie putts failed to drop regularly enough to truly mount a charge.
“I had a nice day. I felt like I moved on moving day,” Lee surmised of her third round.
“Had a lot of really great looks out there. I feel like the short ones, I’m over-reading them a little bit. It’s kind of tough, because you think the surface is not going to break but sometimes it really does break. It’s just the way links golf is.”
The three-time major winner’s five third-round birdies were offset by a lone bogey at the 11th where the West Australian failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker, before earning the shot back at the par-3 next courtesy of another crisply struck iron.
Lee added another birdie at the uphill par-5 13th before a stretch of pars into the clubhouse that was not without excitement, albeit unrelated to her play, when a Charley Hull struck shot from the third hole bounced in front of, and over, Lee addressing her ball on the 17th tee.
“I’m glad it bounced big because it flew straight over me,” Lee said of the moment. “Some lady or man called out ‘Fore left!’ so I was like, Oh, it’s not coming this way, but it came right over me. It was trying to take me out!”
For Kim, it was a day to forget as putts failed to drop and every borderline bounce or moment went the wrong way in a two-over 74 that sees her four-over for the championship and sharing 59th place.
Defending champion Lydia Ko was another of the players under par on moving day, her 70 lifting the Kiwi to even-par ahead of a final day with predicted rain and wind, that Kyriacou hopes is stronger than forecast.
“I think it would,” she responded when asked if tougher conditions could play into her hands.
“I mean, it’s not nice for anyone. I think it would be fun. It would be like a true Open Sunday, wouldn’t it?”
Australasian scores
T-11 Steph Kyriacou, -3
T-18 Minjee Lee, -2
T-36 Lydia Ko, Even
T-59 Grace Kim, +4
MC Gabi Ruffels, +3
MC Amelia Garvey, +3
MC Hira Naveed, +5
MC Momoka Kobori, +7
MC Cassie Porter, +8
MC Karis Davidson, +9
MC Hannah Green, +12
MC Kirsten Rudgeley, +13
