KILDEER, Ill. — So Yeon Ryu broke away on the closing holes Saturday at Kemper Lakes to take a three-stroke lead in the KPMG Women’s P.G.A. Championship.
Ryu, the 28-year-old South Korean star, birdied the 14th and 15th holes to jump ahead of the Canadian Brooke Henderson and finished with a birdie on 18. She shot a five-under-par 67 on another scorching afternoon to get to 11-under 205 and move closer to her third major victory.
Henderson was second. She bogeyed Nos. 14 and 16 in a 70.
South Korea’s Sung Hyun Park was seven under for the tournament after a 71, and American Angel Yin shot a 68 to get to six under.
Ryu’s two major victories are the 2011 United States Women’s Open and 2017 ANA Inspiration. She won the Meijer L.P.G.A. Classic two weeks ago in Michigan for her sixth L.P.G.A. Tour victory.
Henderson — the KPMG winner at Sahalee in 2016 and the runner-up to Danielle Kang at Olympia Fields last year — led most of the afternoon. On a day when temperatures climbed well into the 90s, she was leading by two strokes at 10 under.
The back-to-back birdies by Ryu and two late bogeys by Henderson turned things in a hurry. Ryu also used a neat approach on 18 to set up a short birdie putt on the par-4 hole.
Four strokes off the lead through the first two rounds, Angel Yin was making a push toward the top of the leaderboard. Yin, a 19-year-old from Arcadia, Calif., birdied the 10th, 11th and 12th holes to get to seven under before a double-bogeying No. 16.
Her 3-wood off the tee hit a bunker on the left side of the fairway, and an 8-iron went to the water on the right. She also missed a bogey putt. But a birdie on 18 gave her a strong round despite the heat.
“How difficult was it?” Yin said. “I don’t need to say much. You can just look. I’m wearing a skirt. I don’t do that. So legs are out, it’s hot.”
Source : NYtimes
