Cydney Clanton and Jasmine Suwannapura on Friday shot a seven-under-par 63 in the alternate-shot third round to open a five-stroke lead in the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, the LPGA Tour’s first-ever team event.
The US-Thai duo birdied five of the last seven holes on the front nine and played the last five holes in two-under, making three birdies and a bogey.
“I think because we pretty chill, like: ‘You hit a bad shot, like OK, I’ll fix it, don’t worry,’” Suwannapura said. “So everybody kind of like relaxing the game today, so the result pretty good.”
Photo: AFP
They had a 16-under 194 total at Midland Country Club, with a best-ball round left yesterday.
“Each hole’s an opportunity,” Clanton said.
“How many opportunities can we give ourselves. One of those things where as many fairways and greens as you can hit and if the putts go in, great,” she added.
Suwannapura won the Marathon Classic last year for her lone LPGA Tour title, while Clanton is winless on the tour. They had an alternate-shot 67 on Wednesday and shot a best-ball 64 on Thursday.
“Today, I think what we did was quite impressive just with our ball-striking in general,” Clanton said. “Jasmine’s putting’s on point.”
Thai sisters Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn had a 64 to move into a tie for second at 11-under with Chinese duo Simin Feng and Ruixin Liu (67), South Koreans Na Yeon Choi and Jenny Shin (67), and Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel of the US (69).
“I felt like first round, don’t want to miss any shot, because I don’t want my sister to have like tough shot and I kind of worry and scared,” Ariya Jutanugarn said. “But today we already make the cut and nothing to lose.”
Taiwan’s Chien Pei-yun and her Hong Kong partner Tiffany Chan were tied in seventh place on 10-under going into the final round.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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