Korda seizes share of 3rd-round lead at U.S. Women’s Open with birdie spree

Several players traded the lead on a sunny afternoon in front of the week’s biggest crowd at this 100-year-old country club in Pacific Palisades. Seven players were within two shots of the top of a leaderboard crowded with major winners.

First-round leader Jennifer Kupcho and 2015 U.S. Women’s Open champion In Gee Chun were a shot back at 5 under after 69s, while second-round co-leader Ruoning Yin, Mexico’s Gaby Lopez and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka were 4 under.

Amateur Aphrodite Deng of Calgary is in a five-way tie for 11th at 2 under, four shots back of the lead, while Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., is in a six-way tie for 34th at 3 over.

But Sunday’s field will have to tangle with Korda, who has been near the top of her formidable game for the past two days.

Korda chipped in from the fringe for birdie on the third hole Saturday, and she nailed an 18-foot birdie putt on the sixth. She finished with her birdie spree, reaching the par-5 17th green in two before smashing her 154-yard approach shot to four feet on the 18th.

Korda had never posted consecutive rounds in the 60s in a U.S. Women’s Open, not even last year when she tied for second at Erin Hills. She believes that experience and her ongoing work on her mental game have put her in a prime position to execute Sunday.

“I’m not going to get too frustrated,” Korda said. “I think last year I really, really wanted it, and the more you want it, sometimes the more you stiffen up and you get a little bit more nervous. So I play my best golf when I’m happy, free Nelly and I’m kind of joking around out there. That’s kind of the attitude that I’m going to have (Sunday).”

Kim was one shot off the lead after each of the first two rounds, and the South Korean star carded a steady 68 after a birdie on 17 to stay right on pace with Korda.

“I tried to keep my patience and just waited for a chance,” said Kim, a 13-time winner on the LPGA Tour. “When the chances came to me, I just made it.”

Both second-round leaders are also still firmly in contention. Southern California native Alison Lee was one shot off the lead on the back nine before making three late bogeys and finishing at 3 under, while Yin made three bogeys on the front nine before getting back to 4 under with two late birdies.

Lee, who gave birth to son Levi 15 months ago, would be only the fourth mother to win the U.S. Open and the first since Juli Inkster in 2002.

England’s Charley Hull carded Saturday’s low round at 65, making seven birdies and moving just three shots back of the lead. Asterisk Talley, a 17-year-old amateur from California’s Central Valley, shot a 66.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/golf

Greg Beacham, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Korda seizes share of 3rd-round lead at U.S. Women’s Open with birdie spree

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