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Two-time champion Jiyai Shin capitalized on a back-nine collapse by top-ranked Nelly Korda to take a one-shot lead after the third spherical of the Ladies’s British Open at St. Andrews on Saturday.
Nothing will give the 36-year-old Shin extra confidence heading into the ultimate spherical than how she collected the final of her seven birdies in a 5-under 67 on the house of golf.
On the par-4 seventeenth, the well-known Highway Gap, the previous world No. 1 hit a fairway wooden that landed on the entrance of the inexperienced and rolled to inside 2 ft from the pin.
That took Shin to 7-under par on the fifth and closing main of the 12 months, and it is the quantity the South Korean will set off on Sunday in her bid to comply with up her Ladies’s British Open titles in 2008 and 2012.
“That is my third time at St Andrews. That is how a lot I’ve performed it, for therefore lengthy,” mentioned Shin, who was tied for eleventh after two rounds. “I’ve quite a lot of expertise with hyperlinks course and with not powerful wind like this, however I just about have quite a lot of good expertise.”
Korda can be looking for her third main title — her first on the British Open — however will begin two strokes off the lead after seeing her kind from the opening two days desert her in taking pictures 75.
Beginning with a three-shot benefit, the American missed brief par putts at her first two holes to drop right into a share of the lead, solely to regain it with three birdies earlier than the flip.
Korda misplaced her approach on the again 9, lacking a par putt from 4 ft at No. 12, one other from 5 ft at No. 13 after which making double on No. 16 after pushing her drive out of bounds.
There was one other bogey on the seventeenth — a troublesome gap she had birdied Thursday and Friday — however a birdie on the final left Korda in third place.
“It is good to complete with a birdie,” Korda mentioned, “however it wasn’t one of the best of days.”
Defending champion Lilia Vu rolled in a birdie putt on No. 18 to shoot 71 and be alone in second place. She totaled 5 birdies to offset two bogeys and a double bogey on No. 13.
“The wheels have been falling off in the midst of it,” Vu mentioned. “I used to be getting anxious, however caddie [Cole Pensanti] was capable of give me phrases of encouragement that I am enjoying effectively. It is only a couple unhealthy breaks.”
Olympic champion Lydia Ko (71) and Jenny Shin (70) are tied for fourth.
Charley Hull light from rivalry after taking pictures 75 and was 2 below, 5 off the lead.
Jiyai Shin was a prodigy, successful the Ladies’s British Open at Sunningdale in 2008 when she wasn’t but a member of the LPGA. Her victory at Hoylake 4 years later was by 9 pictures and was one of the vital commanding title triumphs in a ladies’s main. In between these main wins, she rose atop the world rating.
Nevertheless, she resigned her LPGA membership in america earlier than the beginning of the 2014 season and went again to Asia to be near her father, enjoying as an alternative in Japan and Korea — all of the whereas persevering with to win titles.
“I fear [that I] misplaced followers, however I met new followers, extra new followers,” Shin mentioned, including. “I preserve working laborious. I do know myself very effectively now. Even in several situation, I can extra deal with on my own. That is why I am right here.”
Shin birdied Nos. 1 and a pair of and actually made her transfer with three consecutive birdies on Nos. 7-9 to maneuver one behind Korda. She birdied No. 12 to remain one again, and that clinic on No. 17 lastly put her within the lead.
“I could not see the place ball completed as a result of my top,” Shin mentioned. “I could not see it. I can hear quite a lot of claps, however I could not see the place they completed. After which my thought was, ‘OK, simply make the inexperienced,’ after which after I come up … to the outlet, like wow, so shut.”
The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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