PORTHCAWL, Wales — Even though Royal Porthcawl is vastly different from Evian Resort Golf Club in every imaginable way, Andrea Lee’s confidence was greatly bolstered from her T5 performance at The Amundi Evian Championship.

Lee called her showing in France her “best ball-striking week of the year,” gleaning a lot of self-belief from what was her second-best finish ever in a major championship, one she is primed to better this week at the AIG Women’s Open.

“Having a top-five finish at a major always does your confidence pretty well,” Lee said after round three in Wales. “I knew my game was in a good position coming into this week. Obviously, I’m trying to not have any expectations and play solid golf.”

And play solidly Lee has through 54 holes at Royal Porthcawl. She is currently alone in third at 7-under overall, two strokes behind Japanese rookie Miyu Yamashita. After setting herself up nicely following rounds of 70 and 72 on Thursday and Friday in blustery weather, the Californian caught fire on Moving Day in Wales.

The 26-year-old trailed Yamashita by nine strokes when she began her third round at 2-under overall and got off to a quiet start with three pars before landing a birdie on the par-4 4th hole to move to 3-under for the tournament. She then grabbed back-to-back birdies on the par-5 6th and par-4 7th holes to climb to 5-under, but Lee erased one of those birdies with a bogey on eight.

She then went on a four-birdie run that stretched from the ninth to 12th holes, a fiery streak that bumped Lee further up the leaderboard and put her squarely in the mix at 8 under par. However, as the conditions toughened coming down the stretch, Lee’s gear shift got stuck in neutral, as the LPGA and Epson Tour winner made three pars before dropping her second shot of the round on 16, ultimately closing out her 5-under effort with two pars on 17 and 18.

But despite the quiet finish, Lee was incredibly pleased with her Moving Day performance, and when Yamashita struggled to a 2-over 74 that dropped her back to 9-under for the tournament, Lee’s 67 left her in a perfect position from which to chase on Sunday at Porthcawl.

“It was a solid one,” Lee said. “I knew the wind was going to pick up, especially on the back nine, so I tried to take advantage of the front, which I was able to do. Ten through 12 was a pretty nice stretch, and I knew 14 through 17 was going to be pretty tough. I was just trying to make pars on those holes. Managed to just get one (bogey) on 16. But I'm pretty happy with the way I played out there today.”

This is the fourth time in her career that Lee has been within five of the lead entering the final round at a major championship, and it’s the third time that she has been in this position this season.

However, Lee has yet to break through to claim her second career LPGA Tour victory, what would be her first since she won the Portland Classic in 2022. And that winless drought is something that Lee will be working hard to end in the final round of the AIG Women’s Open as she tries to chase down her maiden major victory at Royal Porthcawl and join Mao Saigo, Maja Stark and Grace Kim as the fourth first-time major champion of the 2025 season.

“It's really exciting,” Lee said. “Any time I put myself in contention to win is a great opportunity, another learning experience, and I'm going to go out there and try to have as much fun as I can and play my best golf and see what happens at the end of the day.

“(Sunday) is going to be pretty tough. Anything can happen out there. I think anyone within five shots has a chance at this championship, honestly, so I'm just going to try and keep my head down and stick to my own game plan and try not to look at the leaderboard and just play golf.”

Andrea Lee Lurking at AIG Women’s Open After Third Round 67 in Wales

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