Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa birdied five of her last seven holes for a seven-under 65 and a share of the third-round lead with Sophie Gustafson in the CVS Challenge on Saturday.
Ochoa is winless in 10 starts since taking the Corona Championship in her Mexico homeland in late April. She has only two victories in 16 events this year after winning 21 times in the previous three years.
She insists she wasn’t bothered when critics questioned her game earlier this year. If anything, she agreed with them.
“I respect the opinion of the media and the players, and the results show I wasn’t playing my best golf, so it’s OK for people to talk,” Ochoa said. “I also say that I’ve been working hard and I feel much better. I feel that I’m getting in a better rhythm and that’s why I’m here today.”
She was four strokes back after 10 holes, then used a strong finish — including a 16-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole — to match Gustafson at 16-under 200.
Gustafson had a 66. She spent 30 minutes on the putting green working on her stroke following Friday’s second round.
“My putting was much better,” Gustafson said.
Angela Stanford and Yoo Sun-young were six strokes back at 10-under after 69s, while Paula Creamer (69), Morgan Pressel (67) Leta Lindley (66) and Maria Hjorth (72) followed at nine-under on the Blackhawk Country Club course.
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng carded a 71 to sit on six-under, 10 shots off the lead. Candie Kung fired a 69 to lie a further two shots back on four-under, while Teresa Lu’s 75 left her on even-par for the tournament.
Gustafson has had seven finishes as runner-up since winning the 2003 Samsung World Championship. To end that streak of near-misses, she needs to hold off the world No. 1.
“I’m not really that worried,” Gustafson said. “It’s a full-time job taking care of myself, so I don’t really pay that much attention to what other people are doing.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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