Women’s PGA Championship third round
-7 A Yang (Kor); -5 L Hartlage (US), M Yamashita (Jpn); -4 S Schmelzel (US); -3 C Inglis (US), JY Ko (Kor), H Shibuno (Jpn), L Thompson (US), L Vu (US)
Selected others: -1 C Hull (Eng); E L Maguire (Ire); +3 G Hall (Eng)
Amy Yang moved into a two-shot lead of the Women’s PGA Championship by carding a third round of 71.
The 34-year-old South Korean hit three birdies and a bogey to go to seven under par, with Lauren Hartlage (69) and Miyu Yamashita (70) on five under.
Sarah Schmelzel was in the joint overnight lead with Yang but shot a 74 and is on four under par at the Sahalee Country Club in Washington.
England’s Charley Hull was within reach of the leaders before she found the water and hit a triple bogey on the par-three 17th.
She finished with a par round of 72, which also included five birdies and two bogeys, and is six shots off the lead on one under par.
“My mate yesterday goes, ‘what happened to you on 17 yesterday? You nearly hit it in the water’,” said Hull.
“So I got to the tee box and I’m thinking to myself, I never nearly hit in the water. Then I’m thinking about the water and just fatted it into the water. It’s human.
“It wasn’t like me. I played so well out there and didn’t do one thing wrong and got up and down when I needed to.
“But I’m still positive going into the final round. Anything can happen.”
Yang has five wins on the LPGA Tour but will be chasing her first victory at a major on Sunday.
“It’ll mean a lot, but we still got 18 more holes out there and that’s a lot of golf left for major championship,” she said.
“I’m just going to embrace the moment and not going to expect the result. Just see what’s going to happen.”
The third round included Pajaree Anannarukarn of Thailand hitting a hole in one – the first at the event since 2018 – with her effort on the 153-yard par-three 13th.
