Angel Yin shot a 7-under 65 in the third round Saturday to earn a share of the lead with Maja Stark entering the final round of the Buick LPGA Shanghai.
Yin started with a bogey on the par-4 first hole, then scattered eight birdies to vault into the co-lead with the lowest round of the week (65). For Stark, who held at least a share of the lead after the first two rounds, a 70 was enough to stay atop the leaderboard with Yin at Qizhong Garden Golf Club with a 12-under 204 for the tournament.
Yin and Stark enter Sunday’s final round a stroke ahead of Pavarisa Yoktuan of Thailand, who finished with a 69 on Saturday.
Another shot back at 10-under and tied for fourth place are Lilia Vu (67), Mi Hyang Lee of South Korea (67) and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn (68).
Stark mixed two bogeys and four birdies on the day as she seeks to become the fourth wire-to-wire winner on the LPGA season.
“It would mean a lot to win it just to prove to myself that I can actually do it when we have a lot of top players here,” the Swede said.
For Yin, her 65 was her best 18-hole score since the third round of the 2021 Honda LPGA Thailand. Five birdies over the final eight holes put her in position for her first tour win in 159 events.
“I’m just going to try to live in the moment, what’s in front of me, and try to hit my shots and stop living in my own head and overthinking everything,” the Californian said. “And then if it works out, it works out, because golf is difficult, because it could be just like tomorrow is like today, you know, but we put an end to it.”
Yin would become the 12th first-time winner on the season, which would set a record. In 1995 and 2022, there 11 first-time winners.
Two-time defending champion Danielle Kang, who entered play Sunday one shot off the lead, shot a 73 to fall into a tie for ninth, four off the lead.
Yoktuan, who has made 81 tour career starts, is within striking distance of her first tour victory. She has just one top-10 tour finish, coming at the Dana Open in 2019.
“I just do the same thing, like what I’ve been doing the past three days. Focus on the same thing. Not think about whether I win or not. It doesn’t matter as long as I’m happy my golf game,” she said.
She is one of 14 players within four strokes of the leaders, including Esther Henseleit (70) of Germany and Yu Liu (72) of China, who are tied for seventh at 9-under.
–Field Level Media