In Gee Chun falters but retains Women’s PGA Championship lead by three shots heading into final round
In Gee Chun remains in control of the Women’s PGA Championship despite shooting a three-over-par 75 in her second round; Sei Young Kim, Hye-jin Choi and Lexi Thompson sit three shots back
In Gee Chun saw her lead halved at the Women’s PGA Championship but the South Korean is still very much in charge at Congressional Country Club.
Two-time major winner Chun heads into Sunday sitting three shots clear at eight-under-par. A trio containing two of her compatriots, Sei Young Kim and Hye-jin Choi, as well as American Lexi Thompson are five-under ahead of the final round.
Saturday saw the first time Chun has moved backwards, after the 27-year-old broke the course record with an eight-under-par first round, giving her the biggest lead ever held after day one of a major and had a six-shot lead after the second round.
On a day when Congressional Country Club gave the leaders plenty of trouble, Chun was holding her own until she made a double bogey on the par-5 16th.
Chun bogeyed the first and 11th but birdied holes two and 12. She had a five-shot lead when she had to play her third shot from some tall grass on the 16th. That shot put her in even more trouble, in an area with tall grass and some thick trees. She took an unplayable lie and went back to the previous spot to re-hit.
“Looking forward to an exciting final round already,” she said. “If it’s going to be too easy, then I feel it is boring.”
Lydia Ko (76) and Jennifer Kupcho (74), Chun’s playing partners, had their own problems and Ko was not able to take advantage of Chun’s mishap. She bogeyed four of five holes during one stretch on the front nine, then birdied four of the next seven. She wrapped up the round with four straight bogeys.
