A glance to the right of the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach on day three provided a view of the field’s ultimate dream, the Harton S. Semple trophy. Fans lined up for an opportunity to take a photo with it all day during the third round.
Now, we’re 18 holes away from a player having their photoshoot with the trophy and emerging as the 78th US Women’s Open champion. Nasa Hataoka holds the inside track to win the major, holding a one-stroke lead at seven-under par over Allisen Corpuz. Here are five storylines to follow during the final round at Pebble Beach.
Is Minjee Lee too far back to win?
After an even-par 72 today, Lee sits eight shots behind Hataoka’s lead. The defending champion knows to maintain a tempered approach in the final round to overcome the deficit.
It’ll take a record performance for Lee to win. The largest comeback in US Women’s Open history is five shots, done an impressive eight times (in 1962, 1969, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995, 2020, 2021). An eight-shot deficit was made up to force a playoff in the 1956 US Women’s Open by Barbara McIntire. However, McIntire lost by seven strokes in the 18-hole playoff to the 54-hole leader Kathy Cornelius at Northland Country Club in Duluth, Minnesota. To force a playoff, Lee must accomplish what’s yet to be done in nearly 67 years.
Can a former world No.1 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings win her first LPGA Tour event in a decade?
Jiyai Shin, former world No.1, posted a two-under 70 to sit five off the lead. That’s a typical sentence to write throughout her 11-time LPGA-winning career, except for one minor detail. The South Korean last won on the LPGA in 2013, leaving the tour to move closer to her family.
Shin started competing on the nearby JLPGA and remains dominant on the circuit. She’s won 25 times on the JLPGA since leaving the LPGA Tour, including most recently just two weeks ago at the Earth Mondahmin Cup. After her latest victory, she dreamed of her recently departed grandmother, Kirim Kim. They shared a meal, with Kim wishing Shin to remain energetic and healthy.
The nicknamed ‘Queen of the Final Round’ continues her success in her first start in the United States since the 2019 US Women’s Open. Shin eyed what it will take on Sunday to catch up to Hataoka.
“If I play bogey-free round, I have a little bit of chance,” Shin said.
How many players will end up under par?
At the end of round one, 20 players were under par. After the second round, six were under par. That number remains at six players after three rounds. Pebble’s test continues to get more challenging. Leona Maguire, who shot a three-over 75 to sit at two-over for the championship, explained she felt the afternoon waves were playing four to five strokes harder than the morning.
“I don’t think there was anything easy about today,” Maguire said. “I think you just had to get very creative with some of the shots. It was incredibly difficult.”
Only 11 players posted an under-par round today. Finding a way into red figures for the championship, on top of the lucrative pay cheque, will probably result in a top-10 finish. That guarantees a spot in the 2024 US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club.
The amateurs got beat up in round three. Can they recover?
Thirty-six-hole low amateur Aine Donegan made a move early in the third round, with a three-under start through seven holes, then she approached the challenging eighth, the hardest hole of the third round.
The Irishwoman put two balls into the native area short of the green, settling for a 9 and plummeting from two-under to three-over in one hole. Her coach and caddie, Gary Madden, gave her the perspective to help steady herself and finish with a three-over par third round.
“Forget about the fact that it’s a 9,” Donegan explained of Madden’s advice. “At the end of the day, you’ve had the exact same number of shots as seven pars and two bogeys.”
Donegan leads the amateurs at four-over par, sitting at T-19. All four amateurs struggled on Saturday. Vendetta Moresco and Monet Chun shot four-over 76s to end up at T-45 and seven-over par for the championship. Amari Avery, a rising junior and four-time winner at the University of Southern California, fared the worst, with a seven-over back nine culminating in a six-over 78. Avery is at T-57 and nine-over par.
Will a rookie win a major, again?
Rose Zhang (level with Minjee Lee at T-9), Hae Ran Ryu (T-5), and 36-hole leader Bailey Tardy (T-3) are all vying to become the sixth rookie in the past eight LPGA seasons to win a major. In Gee Chun broke through at the 2016 Evian Championship, Sung Hyun Park won the 2017 US Women’s Open, Georgia Hall the 2018 AIG Women’s Open, Jeongeun Lee6 the 2019 US Women’s Open and Patty Tavatanakit won the 2021 Chevron Championship.
Ryu sits five shots behind, with Zhang trailing by eight. Tardy leads the potential rookies at four-under par after a 75 in the third round, three off the lead.
“I’m still in contention and I didn’t play my best today,” Tardy said. “Just focus on hitting more fairways tomorrow, and I think the rest will come easy.”
