The low round of the week at the CME Group Tour Championship belongs to Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul, who fired a 9-under-par 63 in third-round action Saturday to forge a tie with Angel Yin atop the leaderboard in Naples, Fla.
Thitikul’s sizzling round included seven birdies and an eagle on No. 17, putting her into a tie for the lead. Her seventh birdie of the day came on 18, briefly giving her the solo lead at 15-under 201.
“Tomorrow it just depends on the — I just still believe that if like it’s your turn, and then it’s your turn,” Thitikul said. “Whatever is going to happen tomorrow, I take it as a learning experience.
“It’s not about life or death.”
Sixty players are competing at the LPGA’s season finale at Tiburon Golf Club with a $4 million first-place prize at stake.
Yin came into the day boasting a two-stroke lead on the field, which helped her withstand Thitikul’s charge. An eagle on Hole 6 sparked three more birdies over six holes. She calmly knocked in her fifth birdie of the day on 17 to put herself at 5 under on the day and 15 under overall, then a par on 18 assured her a share of the lead going into final-round action Sunday.
“I just knew I had to keep grinding it out and I needed to trust what I’m good at, and that was it,” Yin said. “Got a little rough, but it was good.”
The Los Angeles native has won just once on the LPGA Tour before.
China’s Ruoning Yin is alone in third place at 12 under after carding a 6-under 66. Her day included six birdies and no bogeys.
South Korea native Narin An (69), who had come into the day two strokes off the leader’s pace, is currently tied for fourth at 11 under with England’s Charley Hull (66).
Just two other golfers are with five strokes of the lead. Those two, Lucy Li and Russia’s Nataliya Guseva, shot matching 67s and sit in a tie for sixth place.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda (69) headlines a group tied for eighth at 9 under. The others are France’s Celine Boutier (67), Japan’s Ayaka Furue (69), and South Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi (71), who had been two behind the lead coming into the day.
