In Lancaster, an epic Sunday awaits on the U.S. Ladies's Open

LANCASTER, Pa. — Minjee Lee entered the interview space following her third spherical on the U.S. Ladies’s Open with a smile plastered throughout her face.

Whereas many gamers have come off the course this week at Lancaster Country Club wanting crushed and battered, Lee stood tall, having lastly delivered a counterpunch to William Flynn’s brutish design. She fired the spherical of the match on Saturday, carding a four-under 66 to safe a spot within the remaining pairing Sunday.

“It didn’t really feel tremendous easy, however I simply tried to stay to my recreation plan, tried to make birdies,” Lee stated. “Clearly I wished to have an excellent rating on spherical 3, Shifting Day. I knew there was going to be some alternatives with among the tees up for birdies, so yeah, just about I simply tried to take it step-by-step as you do as a U.S. Open and simply stayed within the second.”

Lee executed that recreation plan to perfection with three birdies and an eagle. She ceded floor simply as soon as, a bogey on No. 14, en path to a four-under spherical on a day the place the scoring common was two over.

Her third-round cost endeared the Aussie to the jap Pennsylvania crowd, a lot that they rained down a number of Let her prepare dinner! shouts from the bleachers in a nod to her brother, Min Woo, who competes on the PGA Tour.

“I feel a pair others are in all probability going to be on the identical rating as me,” Lee stated. “So [it might be] a shootout, relying on how the course is about up tomorrow.”

She’s right on one rely in that evaluation — Wichanee Meechai and Andrea Lee are tied along with her heading into the ultimate spherical at 5 below — however don’t anticipate the course to be arrange for a shootout. By three rounds, the scoring common at Lancaster is 74.3, with simply 5 gamers below par by three rounds.

If Lee desires to replicate her 2022 U.S. Women’s Open title, she’ll need to combat off a pair scrappy underdogs in Meechai and Lee. Neither entered the week on the quick checklist of contenders, however every has performed their approach right into a tie for the 54-hole lead.

For Lee, Sunday will symbolize an opportunity for validation. After an beginner profession that noticed the California native ascend to the highest of the World Newbie Golf Rating, success has not been as straightforward to come back by within the professional ranks. She’s gained simply as soon as on the LPGA Tour and owns simply two high 10s in 16 main begins. In lower than 24 hours, she’ll have an opportunity to rewrite that narrative of underachievement.

“I’m simply steadily getting a bit bit higher yearly and simply discovering my rhythm out right here on Tour,” she stated after her third-round 67. The 25-year-old is one in every of simply two gamers this week — together with Meechai — to be below par in all three rounds. “I really feel actually snug, particularly this season. I really feel like that is essentially the most snug I’ve felt out right here and essentially the most enjoyable that I’ve had since turning skilled.”

Meechai, essentially the most unlikely of the three names sharing the highest of the leaderboard, will look to play the function of spoiler throughout the remaining spherical. At No. 158 within the Rolex Rating, the journey-woman will look to turn out to be the primary qualifier to win the U.S. Ladies’s Open since Birdie Kim in 2005.

“I hit a number of dangerous pictures, however, you already know, like I don’t have any dangerous ideas about my swing or in regards to the outcome in any respect,” Meechai stated. “I’m simply staying in my zone and making an attempt to maintain going after which be affected person.”

Endurance might be key on what is certain to be a stern take a look at throughout the remaining spherical at Lancaster Nation Membership. But when one factor is definite, it’s this: Sunday of this U.S. Ladies’s Open is certain to be a thrill.

Zephyr Melton

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com the place he spends his days running a blog, producing and enhancing. Previous to becoming a member of the workforce at GOLF, he attended the College of Texas adopted by stops with the Texas Golf Affiliation, Group USA, the Inexperienced Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all issues instruction and covers beginner and girls’s golf. He might be reached at [email protected].