MOBILE, Alabama - The three Thai women at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic stuck close to the leader, to head into Sunday's final round with a chance of top-10 finishes.
From left, Thidapa Suwannapura, Pornanong Phatlum and Ariya Jutanugarn hit their tee shots at the par-3 second hole of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic golf tournament on Saturday. (AP Photos)
Ariya Jutanugarn fired a 69 on Saturday, for a three-round total of 204, five shots behind third-day leader Chella Choi of Korea.
Pornanong Phatlum of Chaiyaphum actually dropped shots on Saturday, shooting 71 after rounds of 69 and 65, but was just one shot being teen sensation Ariya.
Thidapa Suwannapura was another shot behind Poranong, seven behind Choi, after a third-round score of 72. She was tied for 14th as the final round began on Sunday, according to the leaderboard.
Choi shot her second straight 6-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Jessica Korda and Anna Nordqvist, who is seeking her first win since capturing the LPGA Championship and season-ending LPGA Tour Championship as a rookie.
The Swede said she had perhaps her first "really good putting day" since her rookie year in 2009 with a course-record 61 on Saturday in the third round of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic.
"I just felt like I tried to trust myself and trust my line and just hit it," Nordqvist said. "Usually, I'm very close to making a lot of putts but it's just the difference of making them. It just felt like sometimes I couldn't miss."
Choi twice made three straight birdies to move to 17 under, and has made only two bogeys in three rounds on The Crossings course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail's Magnolia Grove complex. Her best finish in four-plus years on the tour is a tie for second in the Manulife tournament in Canada last March.
Choi, who had three top-five finishes last year, said she started checking out the leaderboard "every hole" at the start of the tournament and feels mentally stronger now in her bid to finally get a win.
"I know my shot and my putting," she said. "I think just my mental and my experience and just confidence ... so I think I can do it. Hopefully."
Nordqvist broke the course record of 62 set by Sydnee Michaels on Friday. Korda, the second-round leader, shot a 69. The American had a bogey on No. 11 when the ball landed in a divot and she tweaked her right wrist, and a double bogey on No. 12.
She rebounded with a 33-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole.
"It was left to right and it was pretty," Korda said, laughing.
That was set up by what she said was a 325-foot drive sparked by the mentality that: "Oh, I haven't hit the green in two almost all day, I need to go for it."
Nordqvist had a run of five birdies starting on the third hole and added a 10-foot eagle putt on the par-5 13th hole. Nordqvist, who did have one bogey, holed a par-saving bunker shot from some 10 yards on 12.
"Today was a lot of fun," she said. "I started out with a couple birdies, hit a lot of good shots, and I think I missed one green. And then I made that bunker shot and it was just like, I couldn't stop smiling, couldn't stop laughing."