Kristy McPherson leads the way after three rounds at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.  Her overall score of -8 is one shot ahead of Cristie Kerr and two in front of Brittany Lincicome.  Jimin Kang and Lindsey Wright are tied for fourth at -4 four shots back while Christina Kim is alone in sixth at -3.

While conditions were much better than on Friday, scoring was still at a premium.  Only 13 players broke par with Jane Park's 68 being the best on the day.  Park is at +2 T15, ten shots behind the leader.  The top three all got home in 70 with each showing some flash - McPherson by opening the back nine with three straight birdies, Kerr with birdie at the par-3 17^th where her tee shot stopped six inches away from the hole, and Lincicome by rolling in a 40-footer for birdie at 15.  Kang and Wright have been plugging along, each with three straight rounds under par - albeit of the 70/71 variety.  Kim struggled to a 75 (no birdies, three bogeys) but held it together well enough to stay within shouting distance.

Besides those six, only Meaghan Francella, Katherine Hull and Helen Alfredsson are within six shots of first place and only Pat Hurst and Angela Stanford are within eight.  2006 winner Karrie Webb is +1 T12 (with Suzann Pettersen and Michele Redman) while defending champ Lorena Ochoa is +2 T15.  I don't doubt the talent of any of those players but I also don't see anybody currently above par jumping all of the talent in front of them.

So it looks like no Sunday Free-For-All for the KNC this year but there are a wide variety of stories amongst those in contention, like McPherson and Wright trying to become the fourth player to make this major their first LPGA victory (Alfredsson is one of the three who have already done that), McPherson trying to become the first player to win in 2009 after leading to start the final round or Lincicome, Kang and Kim chasing their first major victory after recent dry spells.  The only player among the first six who does have a major title in her resume is - imagine that - my pick to win this week, Cristie Kerr.  Of course my picks haven't exactly been sure things so far this season.  We'll see if the Hound Dog jinx continues tomorrow.