Danielle Kang and Charley Hull yesterday shot four-under-par 68s to retain the lead after three rounds of the KEB Hana Bank Championship.
Ariya Jutanugarn was one stroke behind after a 69. Local favorite Chun In-gee shot a 66 and was two back and tied for fourth with Minjee Lee (67) and Lydia Ko (68) at 10-under.
World No. 1 Park Sung-hyun, who shared the overnight lead, carded a 71 that included three bogeys and a double bogey.
Photo: AP
“I got off to a really slow start,” Kang said. “My caddie talked me through a lot of shots and kept me together when I was getting annoyed. I’m a leaderboard watcher, but he just kept telling me: ‘You’re putting great,’ and that kept me in the game.”
Ariya got to 11-under at the turn, but bogeyed the 10th and could only birdie the 13th.
“I have a lot of things to work on,” she said. “I missed some shots and started to think about making birdies and catching the leader and that’s not helping. I have to try not to think too far ahead.”
Taiwan’s Chien Pei-yun fell five spots back to 64th with nine-over, while Hsu Wei-ling was in 69th with 10-over.
? CIMB CLASSIC
AFP, KUALA LUMPUR
India’s 22-year-old Shubhankar Sharma once again served notice of his immense talent yesterday with a round of six-under-par 66 that tied him for the lead in the US$7 million CIMB Classic.
Sharma, who burst onto the scene with wins in Johannesburg and the Maybank Championship on the European Tour earlier this season, moved to 19-under 197, catching up with joint overnight leaders Gary Woodland of the US and Australia’s Marc Leishman, who came in with 67 each.
The resurgent South African Louis Oosthuizen (65), who has been plagued by back injuries, and Bronson Burgoon (67) of the US were tied for fourth at 17-under.
Sharma, who is trying to become the first Asian champion of the tournament, said that three birdies in the first five holes and his par save on the eight were crucial.
“I think it’s always important to get off to a good start, especially on this course where everyone’s just going low. You have to have your foot on the pedal from the first hole,” said Sharma, who led after the second and third rounds of the WGC-Mexico Championship earlier this year before finishing tied ninth.
Former world No. 1 and two-time champion Justin Thomas shot a 69 and was seven shots behind the leaders at 12-under. Defending champion Pat Perez was tied 42nd at six-under.
Pan Cheng-tsung of Taiwan carded a two-under in the round for a total of eight-under and a share of 33rd.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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