Jamie Farr Classic - 3rd Round

Na Yeon Choi leads by one stroke going into the final round of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.  Christina Kim is in second place at -13 while Inbee Park, Katherine Hull and Kristy McPherson are tied for third at -10.

Choi started out the day somewhat slowly, playing the first seven holes in -1.  At #8 however, she hit paydirt - a hole-in-one moved her to -14.  Birdies at 10 and 13 gave NYC a five-shot lead.  Kim, who had birdied 13 one group ahead of the leader to take solo second, birdied again at 15 to go -12.  About the same time, Choi bogeyed 14 and 15 (after only one bogey in her first 49 holes) to trim the lead to just two.  Kim birdied 18 to draw within one and Choi parred out to finish with that margin.

Hull made up the most ground today, firing a 65 which featured four birdies in five holes around the turn.  After an early bogey at 3, McPherson posted 67 (her third straight of 68 or better).  Park fell a couple of shots farther behind due to three bogeys but closed strong with birdies at 16 and 18.  Behind this threesome yet still within the magic six-shot Sunday window are Song-Hee Kim and Azahara Munoz at -9 and Meena Lee and Stacy Prammanasudh at -8.  As good as the scoring has been, I wouldn't expect anybody outside this window to have any chance tomorrow.  If Choi goes on to win, she'll be the fourth player in the last five years to win a tournament after missing the cut in her previous start and also the third player in the last five years to win a tournament in which she made a hole-in-one.

Because of a holiday bash at the HD residence tomorrow (sorry, not enough burgers and beer to invite all of you over), I won't be posting a recap until Monday morning at the earliest.  I'm sure Mostly Harmless and LPGA.com will hold the fort until then.