(Reuters) – South Korean Amy Yang put herself in a strong position to hoist her maiden major title when she carded a near-flawless seven-under-par 65 in the third round of the Chevron Championship on Saturday to take the early clubhouse lead.
Yang has 19 top-10 finishes in the majors and reminded the field why she is a perennial contender at the Club at Carlton Woods near Houston as she produced five birdies on the front nine and only a single bogey on the par-4 11.
“It was one of those days — everything felt so easy and everything felt in sync,” she said in a televised interview. “I just did my best out there, (was) patient and just had fun.”
She sat one stroke back from American Allisen Corpuz, who had the lead of 10-under par at the 14th hole, and was tied with Megan Khang, whose putt lipped out for a bogey on the par-5 13th.
South Korean Chun In-gee got the crowd going with an ace on the par-3 17 after starting on the back nine but has a lot of ground yet to cover after carding a disappointing six over par in the opening round of the year’s first women’s major.
The second round of the tournament wrapped up early on Saturday after organisers were forced to halt play due to darkness. The start of Friday’s action was delayed two hours due to torrential overnight rain.
South Korean Kim A Lim was at the top of the leaderboard through 36 holes but appeared to have lost some of her brilliance on Saturday with a double bogey on the par-3 third and a bogey on the par-4 fifth hole.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; editing by Clare Fallon)
