EVIAN-LES-BAINS – Sunday, In Gee Chun has the opportunity to make history at the Evian Championship.
The 36-hole leader entered the third round with a two-stroke lead and remained in control throughout the round, never giving up her lead as her playing partner Sung Hyun Park gave chase, pulling within one. But a chip in for eagle at the par 5, 15th gave Chun a commanding lead heading down the final stretch. The world No.7 carded a six-under par, 65 to take the 54-hole lead at 19-under par, four-strokes ahead of the KLPGA’s Sung Hyun Park. Olympic bronze medalist Shanshan Feng is third at 13-under par. So Yeon Ryu sits in fourth at 12-under par.
With a win on Sunday, Chun could make history. She has the opportunity to break the lowest winning score in a major championship, male or female. The record for the women is 19-under par, posted on four occasions and matched by Chun on Saturday. The record for the men is 20-under par, set by both Jason Day at the 2015 PGA Championship and Henrik Stenson at the 2016 Open Championship.
Having captured the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open for her first victory on Tour, with a win on Sunday, Chun would become just the second player in the history of the LPGA Tour to have her first two wins come at major championships. The Korean would join the company of fellow countrywoman Se Ri Pak, who achieved the feat in her rookie season in 1998 when she won the U.S. Women’s Open and the then titled McDonald’s LPGA Championship.
In-Kyung Kim made the most of moving day at Evian Golf Club, posting one of the low rounds of the day with a seven-under par, 64 to climb from a share of 17th to fifth at 10-under par. This week Kim carried over the momentum she found last week in Germany on the Ladies European Tour where she won the ISPS Handa Ladies European Masters for the second time in three starts, but she’s still in search of her first win on the LPGA Tour since 2010. Kim says she’s been putting in some extra work on her game since the summer and was happy to finally begin to see the results with her win last week.
"Yeah, I've been hitting the ball really well. It's one of my strengths of my game, and I wanted to make some putts when the score is lower," Kim told the media. "I hit probably better yesterday to be honest, but today on the par-5s I was able to reach on the back nine, so I was able to birdie on those. But there's a lot of chances out there. But there's a few really quite difficult holes with the slope and everything. But In Gee and everything is playing so well, so I'll have to bring my best game somehow."
Kim enters the final round nine-strokes behind Chun.
Click here to watch Kim's third round highlights.
Defending champion Lydia Ko struggled to a four-over par, 75 on Saturday to match her highest round of the year. She sits at Even par heading into the final round.
Click here for scores from the third round of the Evian Championship.
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