Mirim Lee, already a two-time winner on LPGA Tour, is in prime position for her third victory in just her 33rd career LPGA event played. Lee fired a third round 6-under 66 and has a one stroke lead over rookie Alison Lee (-15) heading into the final round. Lee is looking for her first LPGA win in just her fourth start in her rookie year.
Mirim was all smiles after her round and confident in her position heading into Sunday.
“I think comfortable,” Mirim said about being in contention. “Just I think patience, patience, patience.”
After a 66th place finish at the 2014 Kia Classic, Mirim’s caddie Dylan Vallequette said there are no expectations coming in this week. Their goal was to just play, practice and get ready for next week.
Another rookie, Sakura Yokomine is tied with 16-time winner Cristie Kerr at 13-under par and three shots back. Yokomine’s best finish in an LPGA event is 4th, done two times previously.
The round of the day belongs to 25-time LPGA winner Se Ri Pak, who tied the course record of 8-under 64 today. The record was set by Dori Carter in the second round in 2014 and tied yesterday by Morgan Pressel. The track at Aviara Golf Club is one she enjoys playing on and finished T6 here in 2014.
“I had a shoulder injury last year, and this is my third event,” Pak said. “I wasn’t expecting anything, just each week hopefully get better. My game is getting together. But until yesterday it wasn’t really great, but today it was happening, so it really helps a lot. It was really fun.”
Leaderboard
| Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | To Par |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mirim Lee | 65 | 69 | 66 | - | -16 |
| Alison Lee | 69 | 66 | 66 | - | -15 |
| Sakura Yokomine | 69 | 67 | 67 | - | -13 |
| Cristie Kerr | 67 | 68 | 68 | - | -13 |
| 4 players tied at -12 | |||||
The Streak Continues
Another day, another round under par for Lydia Ko. In the third round of the Kia Classic, Ko extended her consecutive rounds under par streak to 27 straight with a 5-under 67 and is four strokes off leader Mirim Lee (-16). She has been within five of the lead heading into the final round in every LPGA event she has played in 2015.
Her approach tomorrow is to try to repeat exactly what she’s done the last few days.
“I played with Katie (Burnett) today and we both made a good share of birdies, and that’s what I’m going to try and do tomorrow with the other girl that I’m going to play with,” Ko said. “It’s a tough course. You can get really lucky and make a lot of great putts, and I think the person that is going to hole a lot of putts tomorrow is going to be the winner. Just being packed up towards the leaderboard, you never know who’s going to be the winner.”
Ko’s last non-sub par round was when she was even par in the final round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in 2014.
Key Numbers To Know
8 – Consecutive weeks at the top of the Rolex Rankings for Lydia Ko
27 – Consecutive rounds under par for Lydia Ko after Rd. 2 at the Kia Classic
64 – Se Ri Pak tied the Aviara Golf Club course record, originally set by Dori Carter in the second round of the 2014 Kia Classic and also done in the second round yesterday by Morgan Pressel.
Strong Finish For Creamer
Paula Creamer sits four shots off the lead heading into the final round and used an eagle-birdie-birdie finish to jump up into a tie for fifth.
“You know, I’ve bogeyed that hole, 15, twice now, and I haven’t really had many bogeys except on that hole, and I was pretty fuming after that,” said Creamer.
The 10-time LPGA winner had six birdies, two bogeys and an eagle in her round of 66 on Saturday and said she feels really comfortable at the Carlsbad-based course.
“The whole day I gave myself lots of opportunities. I really like this golf course. I love playing in front of my friends and family, which is nice, but just starting to give myself more looks, and really having fun out there,” said Creamer.
With a tight leaderboard and 18 holes to play, Creamer said her strategy will be to get off to a quick start on Sunday.
“I want to start off strong, but if you look at today, I finished strong, so there’s really no way that ‑‑ either one you take, and just to not get too far behind,” said Creamer. “I don’t know where I’m going to sit after everybody is done, but I want to keep pace with everybody, and I’ll be a couple groups in front of the leaders, that’s for sure, so if I can post a good number, you never know what happens.”
Final Push For ANA Inspiration
A handful of players have one final round to make a run at a spot in the year’s first major, the ANA Inspiration. The final criteria for players to get into the field is top 20-players who aren’t already qualified and are currently in the top 80 on the Official Money List at the conclusion of the Kia Classic. As of right now Wei Ling Hsu is the last player in the field per the criteria and ranks 76th ($20,160) on the Money List through the JTBC Founders Cup.
Here are five players with a great chance at earning a spot with their play on Sunday.
| Pos. on Money List | Player | Money Won | Pos. After 2 Rds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 | Katie Burnett | $15,523 | T10 |
| 90 | Maria Hernandez | $13,536 | T15 |
| 91 | Brooke Pancake | $12,384 | T47 |
| 96 | Laetitia Beck | $10,314 | T70 |
Airtimes This Week
Golf Channel will broadcast the final round of the Kia Classic from 6:00-9:00 p.m. ET
Rolex Rankings Projections
Scenarios this week at the Kia Classic for a change in the Rolex Rankings No. 1 spot:
Ko retains No. 1 if:- She finishes in a three-way tie for second or better even if Park wins.
- Park finishes in a tie for second or worse regardless of what Lydia does.
- Park wins AND Ko finishes in a four-way tie for second or worse.
- Ko misses the cut AND Park finishes in solo second or better.
No. 3 Stacy Lewis cannot go to No. 1 regardless of what happens this week but she can move up to No. 2 if she wins and Park finishes in third or worse.
Quotable
“Yeah, it’s getting addicting. I like Criminal Minds and all that, but then I get totally freaked out, so it’s really not the genre to watch. But HBO has been having some really good movie selections. I got really excited for Red 2 yesterday. Anything funny with a little bit of action. No romance for me. “
– Lydia Ko when she was asked if she was a bit of a TV watcher.
Keep It Calm
Rookie Alison Lee (-15) heads into the final round of the Kia Classic just one shot off leader Mirim Lee (-16).
“I’m still a rookie out here, but I feel like I’ve had a lot of experience and played in a lot of tournaments to know that I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself, so over the last stretch of holes, I just played my own game, stayed in the moment, and to be honest, I didn’t even know what I shot until I signed my scorecard. I was like, Mike, is this right, 66? But I have grown to learn that that’s how I play my best golf, and I’ve been able to channel that throughout this week.”
Lee finds herself in contention heading into the final round for the second time in as many weeks. The 20-year old was three shots off the lead at the JTBC Founders Cup last week but closed with a 2-over 74 to finish in a tie for 24th. She said her goal for tomorrow is to keep control of her nerves.
“I still want to do my best to stay calm,” said Lee. “Obviously last week at the Founders I had a really good third round and I was second or third place going into the last day, and I got a little ahead of myself, and I shot 2‑over the last day. So I just want to stay calm, hold on to my last couple rounds here, and just play golf.”
With rounds of 69-66-66 so far this week, Lee has built back up her confidence and will use the learning experience from last week to hopefully put together a strong finish. If Lee finishes at the top of the leaderboard, she would be the second rookie to win (Sei Young Kim) and third Rolex First-Time Winner (Kim and Hyo Joo Kim) of the year.
“I was obviously disappointed. I put myself in a really good position going into the last day and I was hitting it great, but on the last day I just couldn’t roll my putts in,” said Lee. “I feel like that’s all a learning experience and I was top 5 and got pushed down to top 25. It was a good learning experience, and I want to take what I learned from last week and apply it to this week, and I know I’m only one shot back, but I’m just going to try and play my game and play against the golf course.”
Show me the eagles
11 total eagles were made today at the Kia Classic and players raised $11,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project as part of the season-long Wounded Warrior Project® Weekends.
The 11 eagles today pushes the season-total to $47,000.
Wounded Warrior Project® Weekends is a season-long charity program that will be tied into the Race to the CME Globe. Each Saturday and Sunday at LPGA tournaments, CME Group will donate $1,000 to Wounded Warrior Project® for each eagle that is recorded. This amount will increase to $5,000 for each eagle during the weekend of the CME Group Tour Championship and a formal check will be presented to the Wounded Warrior Project® during the trophy ceremony at the CME Group Tour Championship. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.
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