It was another bogey-free day for Xiyu Lin at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give as the People’s Republic of China native carded a 6-under 66 on moving day in Belmont, Mich. Lin made six birdies in round three, four of which came on Blythefield Country Club’s four par 5s, to move from T12 into a tie for second at 14-under, just one shot back of 54-hole leader Amy Yang. The 66 ties her second-lowest round of the 2023 season – she last shot 66 in the third round of the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro – and Lin now sits within five of the lead entering the final round for the third time this season as the 27-year-old looks to become a Rolex First-Time Winner on Sunday in the Great Lakes State.
“I really love this course. I think this course suits my game really, really well. I just go with the strategy I made, tried to keep everything simple and keep everything aggressive, and I'm glad it pays off,” said Lin, who has only made one bogey in 54 holes. “After the first round I said to Dave, I feel I played really good just haven't score it. I have so many chips around the green that have chances and just miss couple short putts.
“But then (we just kept on) doing what we're doing, it's going to happen, and it did. You need to hit fairways, and then par 5, it's reachable, but you still need to put yourself in the good spot to go for it. I think I did pretty well last two days.”
This week marks Lin’s ninth start in the Meijer LPGA Classic, and in her eight previous appearances at Blythefield, she’s recorded two top-10 finishes, a tie for eighth in 2015 and a tie for ninth in 2016. This is her eighth start of the 2023 season and she’s only found herself in the top 10 once so far this year, finishing T2 at the JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club after losing in a playoff to Hannah Green. Along with that tie for second, Lin has finished runner-up three other times in the last two seasons, and as she looks ahead to another opportunity to become the third player from the People’s Republic of China to win on the LPGA Tour, joining Shanshan Feng and Ruoning Yin, Lin hopes that she will finally come out on top.
“Every time in contention is a new challenge. It's a different scenario every time. It’s still going to be new to me because it's going to be a pretty packed leaderboard. Still going to try my best,” Lin said. “Hopefully I get it, but if not, learn from it. I know I've been playing good and I know I definitely have a chance, so that's a good thing to think of.”
)
)
)
)
