Can The Aussies Do It, More Behind the Win and More from Australia

Five Australian players are T16 or better on the leaderboard heading into the final round - Su Oh (T2, -8), Sarah Jane Smith (T2, -8), Minjee Lee (T16, -3), Rebecca Artis (T16, -3) and Hannah Green (T16, -3). Australians are hoping to capture their national open for the first time since five-time Open champion Karrie Webb in 2014.

Lizette Salas has plenty of motivation to pull away with the win in Australia. Salas is looking for her first win in three years, her first overseas and her first one in front of her father who is here in Adelaide this week. She also mentioned that it would mean a lot to bounce back from a tough 2016 in which she had zero top-10 finishes for the first time in her professional career.

All four players ranked inside the top-10 of the current Rolex Rankings who are in the field improved their position on the leaderboard on Saturday. No. 6 Ha Na Jang has seemingly the best chance of the four to win sitting four strokes back of the lead at 6-under. No. 2 Ariya Jutanugarn has been steady and moved to 4-under par after a third round 71. The duo of World No. 1 Lydia Ko and No. 8 Brooke Henderson will go off together at 10:20am local time on Sunday after both shot even-par rounds to stick in a tie for 35th at even for the tournament.

Brooke and Brittany Henderson took to the course early on Saturday as the first “group” out in Round 3. Because of the odd number of players to make the cut (75) Henderson played on her own for the first time in her career and brisked through 18 holes in just over three hours, shooting even par with one birdie and one bogey.

Henderson: “It took a little while to get the rhythm right because you’re normally waiting for other players and you have a little bit more time to process things, but at the end of the day it worked out really well and now I have the rest of the day to go experience Glenelg and Adelaide.”

Lizette Salas became a Rolex First Time Winner at the 2014 Kingsmill Championship - Salas has made 63 starts with three top-10 finishes since her victory, including a runner-up showing at the 2015 Meijer LPGA Classic.

Lizette Salas holds at least a share of the lead heading into the final round for the fourth time in her career. In the previous three instances she finished no worse than runner-up while recording her lone career victory at the 2014 Kingsmill Championship.

The last time two different players from the same country won in back-to-back tournaments was October of 2016 when In-Kyung Kim won the Reignwood LPGA Classic and Ha Na Jang followed with a win at the Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship. American Brittany Lincicome was the winner of the first event of the year at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic.

Jiyai Shin holds the Australian Open tournament scoring record since becoming an LPGA event in 2012, shooting 18-under par during her win in 2013.

Victoria’s Su Oh, winner of the 2015 RACV Australian Ladies Masters on the LET, had two top-10 finishes on the LPGA in her rookie season in 2016 including a career-best solo second at the Kingsmill Championship, helping her finish fourth in the Rolex Rookie of the Year race.

Su Oh finished T13 representing Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympic alongside Minjee Lee (T7).

Sarah Jane Smith has finished as a runner-up twice in her career, most recently at the 2016 Citi Banamex Lorena Ochoa Invitational presented by AeroMexico and Delta.

The last Australian player to win on the LPGA Tour was Minjee Lee at the 2016 Blue Bay LPGA.

2009 rookie Pornanong Phatlum has 23 top-10s in her eight years on Tour, including five in 2016 (four inside the top-5) along with a T5 finish at the season-opening 2017 Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic. Phatlum has come close to breaking through, four-times finishing runner-up, including a season-best second place finish at the 2016 HSBC Women’s Champions. Phatlum won the 2012 HSBC Brasil Cup, an unofficial event on the LPGA Tour.

A win this week would put Pornanong Phatlum over the $3 million career earnings mark and would make her the 94th player in LPGA history to earn at least $3 million.

Pornanong Phatlum finished T25 representing Thailand at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games alongside Ariya Jutanugarn (WD).

Sitting two shots off of the lead at 7-under, Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc has never posted a top-10 result on the LPGA Tour - LeBlanc’s best career finish came at the 2016 Marathon Classic presented by Owens Corning and O-I (T11).

Defending Australian Open champion Haru Nomura has posted back-to-back 69s to climb back up the leaderboard after starting the week with a 2-over 75 on Thursday. Nomura could become the only player to repeat as champion at the Australian Open since it became an LPGA event in 2012 (Yani Tseng repeated as champion in 2010 & 2011). Last season, Canada’s Brooke Henderson (Cambia Portland Classic) and Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist (ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer) were the only two players to defend an LPGA title.

Rolex Rankings No. 6 Ha Na Jang put herself right back in the hunt with a 3-under 70 on Saturday and sits four back of the lead. After becoming a Rolex First Time Winner at the 2016 COATES Golf Championship Presented by R+L CARRIERS, Jang won twice more and ranked third on Tour in wins last season behind Ariya Jutanugarn (5) and Lydia Ko (4).

Ha Na Jang was one of six Korean players to win on Tour in 2016 - the Republic of Korea racked up nine wins in 2016, the most of any country.

Of the 13 players that are within five shots of the lead, three have won on the LPGA Tour - Lizette Salas (1 win), Haru Nomura (2 wins) and Ha Na Jang (3 wins). There were an LPGA record nine Rolex First-Time Winners in 2016.

Through three rounds, two of the final three holes at Royal Adelaide Golf Club rank the amongst the toughest for tournament competitors – the par-3 16th ranks 2nd and the par-4 18th ranks 3rd. The par-4 6th hole has ranked as the toughest overall hole of the week.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

On the 18th tee on Saturday, a five dollar bill came loose from a fan’s pocket and blew onto the tee box in front of Ha Na Jang. Without hesitation, Jang stalked the bank bill and covered it with her driver, exclaiming “Mine!” as she pocketed the note and drew a laugh from the crowd. Jang then jogged back over to the young fan and reimbursed him.

Jang: “I love that. Great fun. It creates people (interest) to come to the golf course and always have more fun.”