In Gee Chun's Lead Shrinks to 3 After Third-Round 75 at KPMG Women's PGA
BETHESDA, Md. — In Gee Chun's seemingly insurmountable lead after two rounds of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship was reduced to three shots after the leader shot 3-over 75 on Saturday.
Now, Chun has the likes of Lexi Thompson, Hye-Jin Choi and Sei Young Kim within striking distance going into Sunday's final round of the LPGA Tour major championship.
On a day when Congressional Country Club gave the leaders plenty of trouble, Chun was holding her own until she made a double-bogey on the par-5 16th hole. The two-time major champion from South Korea led by five shots after the first round and six at the halfway point, but that 36-hole advantage has been cut in half. She had an 8-under 208 total.
Lydia Ko (76) and Jennifer Kupcho (74) — Chun’s playing partners — had their own problems, but Thompson and Choi both shot 70 and were tied for second with Kim (71) at 5 under.
Chun bogeyed Nos. 1 and 11 but birdied 2 and 12. She had a five-shot lead when she had to play her third shot from some tall grass on the 16th. That shot put her in even more trouble, in an area with tall grass and some thick trees. She took an unplayable lie and went back to the previous spot to re-hit.
Chun hit an 8-iron and sent the ball over the green, but she did manage to get up and down for a 7. Ko wasn’t able to take advantage of Chun’s mishap. 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.
Kim had a comparatively drama-free round with two birdies and a bogey. Thompson made three birdies on the back nine, including a putt from about 30 feet on No. 15.
Hannah Green (72) was fifth at 4 under, a stroke ahead of Atthaya Thitikul (68), who was so far behind at the start of the day she was in one of the groups sent off on No. 10. Brooke Henderson (73), Kupcho and Jennifer Chang (73) were tied sixth with Thitikul.