Japan’s Miyu Yamashita celebrated her 24th birthday by maintaining her grip on the Women’s Open lead but it was hardly the smooth ride she might have hoped for after a stuttering 74 in the third round at Royal Porthcawl on Saturday.
Yamashita, who had surged into a three-shot lead on Friday with a sparkling seven-under 65, found herself in a much scrappier battle where she carded four bogeys to slip back to nine-under overall.
She was just one stroke ahead of South Korea’s Kim A-lim, who applied the pressure with a flawless 67 that featured five birdies, while American Andrea Lee also shot 67 to sit one shot further back in third place.
“I felt quite nervous today and playing in that wind was quite tough. I didn’t feel like my game was quite there,” Yamashita told Sky Sports.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be today. It just felt like the shots weren’t going my way.
“This is a huge tournament, one I’ve wanted to win for a long time, being a major. But tomorrow I can’t really think of that too much, I just need to take every shot as it comes and that’s how I’m going to get myself around the golf course.”
Yamashita’s troubles began early when she made her first bogey in 24 holes on the fifth, misjudging an uphill birdie attempt before missing her next shot as well to drop to 10-under.
The drama continued at the eighth where she found a bunker, though she responded with a brilliant recovery to find the green and salvage par with a simple putt.
Another missed putt on the 10th cut her lead to just one stroke before Yamashita steadied herself with back-to-back birdies on the 11th and 12th to restore her three-shot cushion.
After two more dropped shots, she then produced a monster putt on the 17th for par with what was arguably the shot of the day from 35 feet after finding another bunker, though she could not convert a birdie chance on the final hole.
Leona Maguire, the only Irish golfer to survive Friday’s cut, carded a three-over-par round of 75 to leave her on four over heading into Sunday’s final round.
England’s Charley Hull provided some home excitement, storming up the leader board with a 66 that included seven birdies to reach joint-fourth alongside Rio Takeda, Minami Katsu and Megan Khang.
World number one Nelly Korda had a look of resignation on her face when she endured a disappointing 74, her poorest round which included four bogeys, to stay level on par overall and tied for 36th.
