Lancaster CC provided a stern test. Just ask the world number one Nelly Korda, whose bid was scuppered pretty much from the get-go with that septuple-bogey 10 on Thursday. It was always going to take a class act to come through, and Yuka Saso brought the goods this afternoon, those four birdies in five holes on the back nine taking her clear of the pack. A second and most deserved US Open title for the young Philippine-Japanese star, who saves her best for the biggest tournament of all; these are her only wins to date on the LPGA Tour! A class act, with mentions in dispatches for Hinako Shibuno, who completed a Japanese one-two at the top of the leaderboard. It was a great US Open. Here’s to next year at Erin Hills!
-4: Yuka Saso
-1: Hinako Shibuno
E: Ally Ewing, Andrea Lee
+1: Arpichaya Yubol
+2: Ayaka Furue, Atthaya Thitikul, Wichanee Meechai
+3: Rio Takeda, Sakura Koiwai, Minjee Lee
The champion of the 79th US Women’s Open and recipient of the Mickey Wright gold medal: Yuka Saso of Japan! She raises the trophy for the second time, gets a laugh for thanking the club for making the course so difficult, then sheds a tear as she thanks her family. “I wouldn’t be here without their support, so thank you so much … and to all the fans who supported all of us … I appreciate your support and hope to see you all again soon … I just try to be very patient … that’s what you need to win a major like this … and just have fun … I enjoy the challenge … I learned so much about that hole! [her four-putt on the 6th] … it feels great … winning in 2021 for the Philippines I feel like I was able to give back to my mum … this year I was able to represent Japan and able to give back to my dad … I am very happy I was able to do it … it’s a wonderful feeling I was able to give back to my parents in the same way!”
When Saso won the title in 2021, she became only the second teenager to win the US Open, equalling the record Inbee Park set in 2008 exactly: 19 years, 11 months and 17 days. Weird coincidence, huh? Now, upon winning her second at the age of 22 years, 11 months and 13 days, she becomes the youngest player ever to lift the trophy twice. The record was previously held by Hollis Stacy, who was 24 years, four months and seven days old when she won for the second time in 1978.
Poor Yuka Saso is suffering all manner of liquid-infused indignity. Having already been accidentally clouted by someone wielding a smoothie, now she’s ambushed by 2015 champ Chun In-gee, who arrives on the scene with two bottles of water, which she upends over her pal’s startled head. More shock – that water must have been ice cold - but after a hug everyone’s laughing and smiling again. The dangers of being a champion golfer!
Bogey at the last for Andrea Lee, an extremely anti-climactic end to a round that promised more. She shoots 75, while Minjee Lee pars but signs for a 78. Minjee walks off with a wry smile, knowing this was one that got away. When Saso won in 2021, it was Lexi Thompson who collapsed; this time it’s poor Minjee who suffers. Having led at -5 earlier in the round, she finishes the week at +3.
-4: Saso (F)
-1: Shibuno (F)
E: Ewing (F), A Lee (F)
Hinako Shibuno finds Yuka Saso and congratulates her in person this time. It’s such a lovely moment. In winning today, Saso becomes only the third Japanese woman to win a major, after Hisako Higuchi (1977 PGA) and Shibuno (2019). To clarify that statement, given Saso won this title three years ago: Saso, who has a Filipina mother and a Japanese father, was representing the Philippines when she won in 2021. She’s playing for Japan now.
A visibly drained and disconsolate Andrea Lee sends her second into the 18th. Not enough juice. It topples back off the false front. Speaking of juice, as Yuka Saso emerges from the marker’s hut in a state of high excitement, she walks slap-bang into someone holding a smoothie cup, and is fairly lucky not to either hurt her face or get covered in pulped fruit. A split second of shock, then a laugh, and off she goes to start her celebrations!
Nearly a birdie at the last for Hinako Shibuno. Par and a 72. She smiles warmly, as she always does. Then she throws her arms open to hug Wichanee Meechai, who started miserably today and never recovered on her way to a 77. But that’s still the best result in Meechai’s career, and when the disappointment subsides, the world number 158 will be exceptionally proud of her week’s work.
-4: Saso (F)
-1: Shibuno (F), A Lee (17)
Yuka Saso wins the 2024 US Open!
Back down the fairway, Hinako Shibuno sticks both hands high in the air and applauds Yuka Saso as she celebrates her 68. A huge, genuine smile. What a sporting reaction despite her personal disappointment. Shibuno then finds the centre of the green with her second. Meanwhile on 17, Andrea Lee chases her par putt six feet past the hole, but does well to make the bogey putt coming back. That’s confirmed Saso as the champion!
-4: Saso (F)
-1: Shibuno (17), A Lee (17)
E: Ewing (F)
+1: Yubol (F)
Updated
Yuka Saso shoots 68!
In goes the final putt, and Yuka Saso signs for a wonderful final round of 68. Four birdies in five holes look to have decided things. Back in 32! She celebrates … not wildly, because nothing’s certain yet … but it’s almost a done deal, and everyone knows it. What a performance!
-4: Saso (F)
-2: A Lee (16)
-1: Shibuno (17)
E: Ewing (F)
Updated
Yuka Saso isn’t to be denied! She clips delicately and expertly from a bald lie to a couple of feet, and when she tidies up, it’ll be for a par that will surely confirm her as champion … because back on 17, Andrea Lee can’t hole out from the sand for the birdie she desperately required.
Andrea Lee has lost her rhythm at the most critical time. Having mishit her tee shot at 16, she pulls into a greenside bunker at 17. (Hinako Shibuno having just taken two putts for her par.) She gasps in irritation, knowing that the jig is pretty much up unless something sensational happens. But then a little bit of hope for the chasers arrives on 18, as Yuka Saso, who had been made to wait in the fairway for a while for the green to clear, hits a fat one that only just reaches the green before toppling back off the front of it. Nevertheless, she receives the warmest of ovations as she makes the walk up 18, one worthy of a champion. She’s still got some work to do, though.
Andrea Lee leaves her long birdie putt on 16 short. To her immense credit, she rattles in the six-footer left for par. Supreme confidence, and she’s hanging on in there.
Shibuno sends her tee shot at 17 pin high. She’ll get a mid-range look at birdie as well. But it could all be moot because on 18, Saso crashes a monster drive down the right-hand side of the fairway to leave herself a short iron into the green. Shibuno and Andrea Lee both realistically need Saso to give them a little help; it doesn’t look as though she’s going to offer any encouragement from tee to green. Another flat-stick malfunction is the chasing pair’s only realistic hope.
Nope. Saso gathers herself and tidies up for bogey. Not ideal, but for a shaky couple of seconds there, things threatened to get a whole lot worse. Meanwhile on 16, Andrea Lee whips a gap wedge out of the sand and muscles the ball into the heart of the green. She’ll have a look at birdie from 30 feet, which was about the best she could realistically hope for.
-4: Saso (17)
-2: A Lee (15)
-1: Shibuno (16)
E: Ewing (F)
Yuka Saso seriously misjudges her birdie putt on 17. Downhill from 25 feet, she sends it ten feet past. The next one is overly aggressive, and a proper wide, missing by a ball’s width on the left and sailing three-and-a-half feet past. She’s not going to four-putt again, surely?
Hinako Shibuno can’t get up and down from the bunker at 16. Just a par, when birdie or ideally eagle was the requirement. She remains at -1. Once she departs, Andrea Lee pulls a dreadful 3-wood into a bunker on the left. That’s 80 yards from the green, and with birdie or ideally eagle the dream for her as well, time and holes are running out now for the chasing pack.
Well, well, well, this might not be over quite yet. Andrea Lee drains her long par saver on 15, and with the driveable 16th coming up, still has an outside chance of catching the leader. Or at least putting some scoreboard pressure on her.
-5: Saso (16)
-2: Lee (15)
-1: Shibuno (15)
E: Ewing (F)
+1: Yubol (17)
Updated
A three-putt bogey for Arpichaya Yubol on 17. Back-to-back bogeys, and suddenly her race is run. She’s +1. Hinako Shibuno finds a greenside bunker to the right of 16. Andrea Lee doesn’t commit to her chip from the front of 15 and leaves herself a 20-footer for par. And on 17, Yuka Saso fires a dart straight at the flag, worrying not a jot about the bunker guarding the front. A second title for Saso getting closer and closer!
Yuka Saso’s putt on 16 is more like 18 feet. There’s a big right-to-left curl on it, too. Almost a 90-degree left-turn. And it’s a slippery downhiller, too. She knocks it carefully on its way … and astonishingly somehow leaves it four feet short! Still left with a tricky downhill putt. She wouldn’t be human if she didn’t start thinking of that four-putt on 6 … but this one is tickled into the centre of the cup. A walk-in birdie, the very least that wonderful tee shot deserved! Suso moves three clear … and Andrea Lee has just clipped a tree with her approach into 15, her ball only just reaching the green as a result. A long two putts coming up for par. It’s never over at the US Open until the last putt drops … but we’re getting awfully close to a decision here.
-5: Saso (16)
-2: A Lee (14)
-1: Shibuno (15)
E: Ewing (F), Yubol (16)
Back on 14, Andrea Lee does well to splash out from the sand to three feet, and that’s a staunch scramble for par at a crucial juncture. She remains at -2. But the misery continues for Minjee Lee, who can’t get up and down from the sand, and ends up with a disastrous double-bogey six. Her last six holes: 5-5-4-5-5-6. This is a proper US Open collapse. Shades of Lexi Thompson in 2021, or Dustin Johnson in 2010. She’s +2, having started the day at -5.
Yubol putts downhill from the fringe at 16. It’s a big right-to-left swinger. She makes a pretty good job of it, and still can’t stop the ball from rolling four feet past. It’s a bogey, and she slips back to level par. When her match vacates the green, Yuka Saso lashes her tee shot over the flag to 12 feet, and this is beginning to look like her tournament to lose. What a shot! After a ten-minute wait on the tee as well!
-4: Saso (15)
-2: A Lee (13)
-1: Shibuno (14)
E: Ewing (F), Yubol (16), M Lee (13)
Bother for Minjee Lee, as well. She pulls a 3-wood into the tall grass down the left of 14, and takes an unplayable. Dropping into some less thick but still troublesome grass, she sends her third into a bunker to the right of the green, and you’d have to assume her challenge is kaput. See also Arpichaya Yubol, who is short-sided to the right of 16, and then underhits two chips in a row. She’ll have a chance to scramble par from the fringe, but if that putt doesn’t go in, her outlandish bid is probably over.
A sensational up-and-down for par by Hinako Shibuno on 14! She gets a free drop from the cart path, as well as some TV gubbins, a big break that takes her away from a nearby tree and allows her to go for the green. She whips up to 15 feet, then walks in the putt. She remains at -1. Some trouble ahead for Andrea Lee and Arpichaya Yubol, though, at 14 and 16 respectively; two shots carved right and into greenside trouble.
Saso calmly tickles her downhill five-footer into the cup. A gentle right-to-left drift, perfectly negotiated. That’s her third birdie in four holes, and she’s taking charge of this tournament at exactly the right time. The driveable par-four 16th coming up, too.
-4: Saso (15)
-2: A Lee (13)
Yuka Saso looks in total control of her game right now. She sends a high draw into 15 from 190 yards to five feet. Cool, calm and collected, and that preposterous four-putt on 6 seems an awfully long time ago.
Ally Ewing shoots 66
Ally Ewing sends her long left-to-right-swinging birdie putt at 18 a couple of feet past. A decent effort, but par will do. She equals the best-of-week round of 66 and is the new clubhouse leader at level par.
-3: Saso (14)
-2: A Lee (13)
-1: Yubol (15), Shibuno (13)
E: Ewing (F), M Lee (13)
Trouble for Hinako Shibuno at 14. She finds a fairway bunker, then pulls her second while taking a shy for the green. The ball flies over the punters lining the left-hand side of the hole and rests near a cart path. Not the ideal time to start spraying it about. Meanwhile back on 13, Andrea Lee very nearly steers in a right-to-left birdie putt from the fringe, but lips out and par must suffice.
Ally Ewing sends her second into 18 pin high. She’ll have a look at birdie from 30 feet. Meanwhile a nerve-settling par for Minjee Lee at 13.
Updated
Yuka Saso is a couple of joules of energy shy of making it three birdies in a row. Her 25-foot left-to-right putt at 14 stopping a couple of centimetres short. A light smattering of rain may have slowed that one up. She remains one clear of Andrea Lee at -3.
Updated
While Minjee Lee was dunking her tee shot into the drink, Andrea Lee was finding the middle of the green. She steers in the big left-to-right breaker, and that’s a huge birdie putt at just the right time! Minjee then nearly drains her long bogey putt, but it stops a dimple short and that’s a double-bogey five. That’s four shots gone in the last four holes for the 2022 champion, who needs to turn this collapse around quicksmart. Meanwhile Ewing staunchly makes her par on 17 and looks set to post a total that will give the remaining players pause.
-3: Saso (13)
-2: A Lee (12)
-1: Yubol (14), Shibuno (13)
E: Ewing (17), M Lee (12)
Minjee Lee sends a wedge into the heart of 12. That’s better, but she’s still facing a lengthy putt just to limit the damage to bogey. Meanwhile another mistake on a par-three, this time on 17, as Ally Ewing carves her tee shot into a bunker to the right of the green, the pin on the left. She does pretty well from a downhill lie to bash across the green, her ball stopping 15 feet past, but that’s a big test coming back for par.
Yuka Saso wedges her approach at the par-five 13th to a couple of feet. She tidies up for birdie to hit the lead. And expect that lead to extend soon, because Minjee Lee’s tee shot at the treacherous par-three 12th hits the bank to the right of the green and topples back into the creek. To the dropzone!
-3: Saso (13)
-2: M Lee (11)
-1: Yubol (13), Shibuno (12), A Lee (11)
E: Ewing (16)
Minjee Lee steadies the ship at 11 by chipping up neatly to a couple of feet, and stroking in the par save. Andrea Lee misses a fairly straight uphill birdie effort, and grimaces ruefully. Meanwhile up on the driveable par-four 16th, Ally Ewing crashes her tee shot from 235 yards to eight feet. She can’t make the eagle putt, a downhill dribbler which is always missing on the right, but in goes the birdie putt. Her fourth of the day, with no blemishes on the card. Given much of the carnage around Lancaster Country Club this afternoon, that’s some feat. She’s level par.
It’s just not happening for Minjee Lee right now. Another drive, another missed fairway, and though she lands her second, from a fairway bunker, onto the green, the ball spins back off the false front and away down the fairway. Big up and down coming up. But it is happening for Hinako Shibuno, who finds the green at the par-three 12th – no mean feat in itself, just ask Nelly ‘10’ Korda – then steers in a huge left-to-right swinger for birdie. She clicks into Smiling Cinderella mode, as well she might, given she’s now just one off the lead at -1!
Here’s an astonishing stat courtesy of NBC. Before she shot 68 yesterday, Arpichaya Yubol had only broken 70 once this year. Should she par her way home, she’ll sign for a 67 today. Should she win, it’d be one hell of a story, and quite the time to suddenly find a rich vein of form!
Yuka Saso finally makes a putt! She pours in a downhill left-to-right slider from 20 feet on 12 … and she’s suddenly got a share of the lead, because on 10, Minjee Lee nearly drains a 30-foot birdie effort, but the ball rolls three feet past, and the one coming back is tugged left. Consecutive bogeys, and the 2022 champion is struggling. Saso and Arpichaya Yubol look the two most likely at the moment … though as we’ve already seen once or twice today, everything can change in an instant!
-2: Saso (12), M Lee (10)
-1: Yubol (12), A Lee (10)
E: Shibuno (11)
+1: Ewing (15)
Ally Ewing is this close to draining a 35-footer on 15 for birdie. The ball turns left at the very last. So unlucky. She remains at +1. Meanwhile one hell of a chip by Arpichaya Yubol on the par-three 12th. In the thick stuff at the back, anything hit hot will sail past the hole, down the slope, and possibly off the green and into the drink. But she punches out delicately, pitching her ball merely a couple of feet forward, onto the fringe of the green, the camber tickling the ball down to four feet. In goes the par saver, and that chip took nerves of steel. At -1, Yubol remains two off Minjee Lee’s lead, and if she’s to win this today, that might be the shot she’ll remember most fondly.
The final group hits the turn on Sunday so … welcome to the start of the 2024 Women’s US Open! Minjee Lee celebrates it by finding her first fairway of the day at 10. Only just, as her ball squeaks over a bunker on the right and rolls apologetically onto the short stuff, but it’s good enough.
… and Yubol is right in this, because Minjee Lee can’t get close with her approach at 9, and has to settle for bogey. All the fault of the wild drive. If she doesn’t get the big stick going, and start finding a few fairways, what earlier looked a likely victory is very much in the balance. Bogeys for Hinako Shibuno and Wichanee Meechai at 10, meanwhile.
-3: M Lee (9)
-1: Yubol (11), Saso (11), A Lee (9)
E: Shibuno (10)
+1: Ewing (14), Meechai (10)
Updated
A neat up-and-down for Arpichaya Yubol at 11. A chip from 60 feet to five and a putt calmly rolled in. The 22-year-old Thai is in uncharted territory – this is her US Open debut, and she’s never made the cut in any of her other major-championship appearances – but her nerves are yet to betray her, and along with Ally Ewing, at three under for her round, she’s by far the best-performing of the players out there. If she keeps this going, and posts a score, we could have ourselves a surprise champion from Thailand after all. Just not Wichanee Meechai, who started eight shots clear of her compatriot today, but now trails her by one.
Minjee Lee hasn’t hit a fairway yet! She keeps that record going by sending her tee shot at 9 into a fairway bunker on the left. Ally Ewing nearly holed out from this bunker earlier in the day, 185 yards out, tapping home for birdie, but Lee is too close to the face to give it a good old whack. She takes her medicine and wedges out, but she’ll now need to get up and down from 80 yards if she’s to save her par.
Ally Ewing keeps on keepin’ on. A third birdie of the day, this time at 13, and she gets herself into the picture at +1. Also moving up the leader board: Arpichaya Yubol, who rakes in a 25-footer for birdie at 10. But moving the wrong way, Andrea Lee, who sends her tee shot at 8 wide right, dunks her second into sand, and does very well to limit the damage to bogey by getting up and down from the bunker.
-4: M Lee (8)
-1: Yubol (10), Saso (9), Shibuno (9), A Lee (8)
E: Meechai (9)
+1: Ewing (13)
Nothing’s really dropped for Yuka Saso yet. But she’ll remember that, at roughly this stage in her victory year of 2021, the leaderboard looked like this …
-8: Thompson (7)
-3: Feng (7), Saso (7)
-2: Yin (8), Khang (8)
… but ended up like this …
-4: Saso, Hataoka (Saso won play-off at first sudden-death hole)
-3: Thompson
-2: Khang, Feng
… so there’s a lot of story yet to be told. Then again, when Minjee Lee won it a year later, her lead at this rough point was this …
-13: Lee (8)
-9: Harigae (8)
… and that one ended up like this …
-13: Lee
-9: Harigae
In other words, history teaches us nothing.
Hinako Shibuno hands the shot she picked up at 7 straight back at 8. A tentative three-putt bogey. Meanwhile two putts for par on 7 for both Andrea and Minjee Lee, the latter disappointed after failing to read the right-to-left break on her short birdie effort. And on 9, Yuka Saso comes up ten feet short with a chip from the fringe, but makes the par saver to turn in 36.
-4: M Lee (7)
-2: A Lee (7)
-1: Saso (9), Shibuno (8)
E: Yubol (9), Meechai (8)
Yesterday, Minjee Lee’s second into the par-five 7th took a huge kick off a hillock to the left of the green and sprang 90 degrees right, rolling up to kick-in distance for eagle. The shot that kick-started her round of 66. Today an errant drive means she’s got to lay up, but then a wedge from 90 yards to six feet sets up a big birdie opportunity. Andrea Lee is also on in regulation, but facing a long two putts for her par.
Minjee Lee’s conservative tactics at 6 don’t pay off. Three putts and that’s her second bogey of the day. Andrea Lee is able to get a putter to her ball from the fringe, and two careful strokes salvage her par. That’s how quickly the landscape can change at a US Open, because when Andrea’s tee shot was heading towards the drink, things were beginning to look very comfortable for Minjee. But throw in a birdie for Hinako Shibuno at the par-five 7th, and now …
-4: M Lee (6)
-2: Shibuno (7), A Lee (6)
-1: Saso (8)
E: Yubol (8), Meechai (7)
Arpichaya Yubol makes up for a dropped stroke at 6 with a 25-foot birdie rake across 8. The Thai debutant joins her compatriot Wichanee Meechai at level par. Meanwhile Ally Ewing’s best finish at the US Open is a tie for tenth in 2019; the 31-year-old from Misissipi is on course to best that today, after birdies at 9 and 11 take her up to +2 and into a tie for eighth.
Andrea Lee can’t afford too many more mistakes. She nearly makes a big one on the par-three 6th, sending her tee shot straight at the flag like Wichanee Meechai did moments earlier. Somehow her ball lands softly and though it runs off the green on the left, it does so slowly enough for the greenside rough to hold it up just outside the hazard. She won’t have an easy chip from there – good luck with the stance – but at least she’s dry. Minjee Lee takes no chances, firing to the right-hand side of the green. The leader’s left with a long two-putt for par, but it was the percentage play given the state of the tournament right now.
Updated
Meechai can’t make her bogey putt – so unlucky as it somehow horseshoes out - and this has been a heartbreaking start for the Thai underdog. A triple. She’s +5 for her round after six holes, and back to level par.
-5: M Lee (5)
-2: A Lee (5)
-1: Saso (7), Shibuno (6)
E: Meechai (6)
Meechai only just makes it onto the green from the dropzone. She leaves her bogey putt four feet short, too. That’ll be a tester for double.
Disaster for Wichanee Meechai on the par-three 6th. The flag is back left, and she arrows her ball straight at it. Problem is, anything that rolls past is kinking off to the left and down into the drink. And there it goes. Anguish spreads across the world number 158’s face. She’s currently in second spot but most likely will be moving backwards very soon. Everyone is moving backwards, except for Minjee Lee, who is level par for her round so far.
Yuka Saso has a US Open moment on the par-three 6th. A four-putt. That’s a double bogey and she slips back to -1. It’s also a double for Andrea Lee on 4, who can’t make a ten-footer to limit the damage. Meanwhile the leader gets up and down from greenside rough – the chip’s not that great, but the 15-foot par saver is – and things suddenly look very healthy for the 2022 winner.
-5: M Lee (4)
-3: Meechai (5)
-2: A Lee (4)
-1: Saso (6), Shibuno (6)
It’s back-to-back bogeys for Hinako Shibuno. The second of them, at 4, is the result of flying her approach through the green. She’s back to -1. Meanwhile a much-needed stroke of luck for Andrea Lee on 4, as she punches up onto the green, but only after nearly hitting a branch, then taking a friendly hop out of thick greenside rough. She’ll have a putt for par.
Trouble for Andrea Lee at 4. She sends her tee shot into a creek down the right. If she drops nearby, she’s not getting up and over a big tree en route to the green. So she’s forced to drop back down the hole, keeping in line with the spot she entered the hazard. Now she can get over the tree, but it’s a much longer shot to the green. And she doesn’t make it, hitting the tree anyway, her ball coming down in the long grass near the creek. This could get ugly.
The 2019 PGA champion Hannah Green is the early clubhouse leader. A fine round of 66, the best of the day so far, and she’s back in the house at +5. The aforementioned Charley Hull ended up with a 67 after dropping her only stroke of the day at 17; she finishes her week at +6.
Minjee Lee chips crisply to a couple of feet. That’s just the one shot gone. Her playing partner and namesake Andrea has a putt for birdie from 25 feet that would put them both back where they started … but she can’t make it. Just a par, but now the deficit is just one.
-5: M Lee (3)
-4: A Lee (3)
An unforced error by the leader Minjee Lee on 3. From the first cut to the left of the fairway, just 50 yards out, she carves her wedge into sand to the right of the green. Then a blast out races hysterically across the dancefloor and nearly ends up in a bunker on the other side. The ball stops in the fringe but she’ll have a testing up-and-down to limit the damage to bogey.
Hinako Shibuno is the latest member of the leading pack to start moving backwards. A careless lip-out from a couple of feet on 3 costs the 25-year-old from Japan a shot. But there’s another player looking to make a late run and get themselves involved; Arpichaya Yubol, a 22-year-old from Thailand making her US Open debut this week, has opened her final round briskly with birdies at 1 and 4, and is homing in on the peloton at level par.
-6: M Lee (2)
-4: A Lee (2)
-3: Saso (4), Meechai (3)
-2: Shibuno (3)
E: Yubol (4)
Another three-putt bogey for Wichanee Meechai, this time at 2, and things are going south for the Thai underdog in double-quick time. She’s -3. Then in the final group coming behind, Andrea Lee finds herself in a deep greenside bunker at the same hole; she flips out elegantly to three feet and tidies up to save her par and avert a bogey-bogey start. She remains two off Minjee Lee.
Charley Hull has star quality – anyone who saw her making eagle on Sunday at Walton Heath last summer will attest to that. She’s been making ripples on social media this week because of this …
… which is her novel tactic to wean herself off the vapes. Anyway, she’s also smoking up the course today; birdies at 1, 5, 13 and 16 have blazed her up the leaderboard to +5. No breakthrough major this week, but it’s only a matter of time. More tales of smoking golfers can be found in the article below, which stars 1946 US Open winner Lloyd Mangrum, who like Hull exudes effortless cool. Hey, I don’t write the rules.
Updated
Minjee Lee opens with birdie! She sends her approach into 1 to 12 feet, and walks in the putt. But it’s a careless three-putt bogey for Andrea Lee, and in no time at all, a three-way tie for the lead turns into a two-shot advantage for the 2022 champ!
-6: M Lee (1)
-4: Meechai (1), A Lee (1)
-3: Saso (2), Shibuno (1)
The 2021 champion Yuka Saso has made the first move of the day at the top of the leader board, with birdie at 2. A 30-foot rake. Back on 1, Hinako Shibuno’s 20-foot birdie effort stays stubbornly out on the high side, and the 2019 British Open champion settles for an opening par. Wichanee Meechai doesn’t make hers, though; the first putt is fine, lagged up to four feet from great distance, but she doesn’t learn from Shibuno’s putt and leaves the second one high on the right.
-5: M Lee, A Lee
-4: Meechai (1)
-3: Saso (2), Shibuno (1)
Meechai is going around today with Hinako Shibuno, who is on the green in regulation. Meanwhile back on the tee, the final group take their opening shots. Andrea Lee is looking for her first major; she swishes her drive down the middle. Her namesake Minjee Lee has two majors to her name – this title in 2022 and the Evian in 2021 – and the Aussie bashes long down the left of the fairway, bounding past Meechai’s bunker with ease. Everyone is now on the course. This is on!
Wichanee Meechai knows a thing or two about fast starts. The world number 158 is a surprise contender, which is something she’s been since opening her second round on Friday afternoon with four straight birdies between 10 and 13. She’s been at the top ever since. But it’s not an ideal start for the 31-year-old Thai today; her opening drive stops near the side of a bunker on the left, and she’s forced to stand in the bunker, grip down the shaft, and take a baseball swing at a waist-high ball. The sort of thing that could go horribly wrong and ruin a round almost before it starts … however she’s made some big par saves this week, and is on course for another after clipping the ball 100 yards up the fairway and running it onto the edge of the green! That’s a stunning recovery, one that looked unlikely, and though she faces a long two putts for par, that’s quite the result.
Here we go, then! Lancaster Country Club has been playing hard all right, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a score out there for someone today. The 2020 champion A Lim Kim is currently demonstrating that; the 28-year-old from South Korea started too far back today to challenge, but if she could sell her start to the leaders, she’d be raking in a fair coin. Birdies at 4 and 5, and she’s up to +3 in short order.
Preamble
An absurd number of big names missed the cut at the Lancaster Country Club this week. The defending champion Allisen Corpuz; other former US Open champions Brittany Lang, Ariya Jutanugarn and Chun In-gee; other former major winners in Georgia Hall, Brooke Henderson, Jennifer Kupcho, Patty Tavatanakit and Lydia Ko; the soon-to-be-very-much-missed retiree Lexi Thompson; and of course the world number one Nelly Korda, who Tin Cupped her way to a septuple-bogey 10 (!) at the treacherous par-three 12th on Thursday. The Lancaster Country Club has been playing tough and taking no prisoners.
All that, and yet there’s so much cream risen to the top! Two former US Open champions are in the hunt …
… as well as another former major winner in the Smiling Cinderella …
… while home hero Andrea Lee, plus Thai outsider Wichanee Meechai, who has been making all sorts of putts all week, are hanging on in there. This could be one of the great final rounds, and we’ll get going at 7pm BST. Here’s how the top of the leaderboard looked after 54 holes, featuring the only players currently under par. It’s on!
-5: Minjee Lee, Andrea Lee, Wichanee Meechai
-3: Hinako Shibuno
-2: Yuka Saso
