(Reuters) -China’s Lin Xiyu carded a superb five-under-par 67 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead over Australia’s Hannah Green and South Korea’s Inbee Park heading into the final day of the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
Lin got off to a poor start with a bogey on the first hole and faltered again on the seventh, but seven birdies – including three in the last four holes – took her total to 14-under for the tournament at the Sentosa Golf Club.
“I wasn’t really paying attention to the leaderboard because to me, the front nine was a little sketchy,” Lin said. “I made two three-putts, weird mistakes and left birdie putts short.
“So going into the back nine which I thought was the tougher nine, I didn’t really expect to play that well but I also knew there are still lots of opportunities, so just needed to stay really patient. The last couple holes were unreal.”
Former world number one Park, the overnight joint-leader, dropped one spot to be tied for second following a disappointing effort after the turn where had two bogeys before a double-bogey on the 16th for a round of 70.
“I still have an opportunity. That’s what matters, and I’ll go out there tomorrow and try to go low,” the 2015 and 2017 champion – who is in the race to make the South Korean team for the Olympics – said.
She was tied with the steady Green, whose second consecutive round of 66 kept her in contention for only a third victory on the LPGA Tour.
The leading trio were followed by Mexico’s Gaby Lopez in fourth and a group of three – Chun In-gee, Lydia Ko and Ryu So-yeon – sharing fifth.
South Korea’s Park Hee-young, who shared top spot heading into the third round, slipped to tied-21st after her game went off the rails on the back nine for a round of 79.
ANA Inspiration winner Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand was tied 11th with British Open champion Sophia Popov after a round of 68.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by Richard Pullin)
