Golf Links: Sunday, July 16 news and notes
72nd U.S. Women’s Open
China’s Shanshan Feng is now only 18 holes away from a wire-to-wire victory, although she wasn’t able to put any distance between herself and the chasing pack during moving day at Trump National Golf Club. If she pulls it off, this would be Shanshan’s 8th Tour victory and her 2nd major championship title.
Amy Yang and the 17-year old amateur Hye-Jin Cho are starting the final round trailing Feng by one shot.
I wouldn’t bet against Amy Yang on this one. She’s gotten close to the Harton S. Semple trophy twice and she’s on her game this week. I wouldn’t bet against Choi either. She’s the second ranked amateur in the world and her game, too, is dialed in. Shanshan Feng has her work cut out for her.
Starting the final round at 6-under and trailing by two, standout rookie Sung Hyng Park is a very real threat as is So Yeon Ryu who’s right behind Park at 5-under par and playing for the win today and her second major 2017 championship title.
"Anything can happen at the final round. I really want to bring out my A game tomorrow & I want to win.” - So Yeon Ryu 4 back #USWomensOpen pic.twitter.com/wbo5F45kfe
— LPGA (@LPGA) July 15, 2017
Without some help from the leaders, Cristie Kerr, who’s starting at 4-under par, may be too far back to challenge for the lead. But I never bet against Cristie Kerr.
Stacy Lewis looked good, for a while. She played her first 10 holes in five under par. But Lewis stumbled badly on the back nine and finished the third round with a 4-over par 76 on her card. Her opportunity to hoist the Semple trophy will have to wait for another year.
Final round play begins this morning at 9:05am. Feng and Hye-Jin Choi, playing in the final group, tee off at 2:35pm and Fox Sports begins live broadcast of the final round at 2pm. All times are ET.