Minjee Lee, Ashleigh Buhai tied in front on moving day at BMW Ladies Championship

Golf

Published: 21 Oct. 2023, 19:01

Minjee Lee, Ashleigh Buhai tied in front on moving day at BMW Ladies Championship

Australia's Minjee Lee watches her tee shot on the second hole during the third round of the BMW Ladies Championship at Seowon Valley Country Club in Paju, Gyeonggi on Saturday. [AP/YONHAP]

Golfers at the 2023 BMW Ladies Championship are headed into their final round in Paju, Gyeonggi after Saturday's moving day to close out the LPGA Tour's only stop in Korea on Sunday.

The top of the scoreboard stayed relatively stable Saturday, with Minjee Lee of Australia remaining the leader, now tied with South Africa's Ashleigh Buhai, who moved up from a second-place finish Friday.

LPGA Tour arrives in Korea for 2023 BMW Ladies Championship

Defending champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand whittled down her strokes, carding three-under-par, 69, to finish moving day tied for third with the United States’ Alison Lee — 11-under-par, 205, overall.

But for Korea, rankings took a tumble, with Shin Ji-yai the sole Korean golfer in the top 10 heading into the final round.

Korea’s Ryu Hae-ran and Lee Jeong-eun6 were both tied for fourth with an eight-under-par, 136, on Friday, but the two failed to shine on moving day.

Ryu slipped down to joint 37th place after making eight bogeys and Lee6 — who has tacked on the number “6” since her KLPGA days to distinguish herself from all of the other Lee Jeong-euns — is now tied for 11th with three bogeys.

Instead, Shin surpassed all countrywomen after a bogey-free five-under-par, 67, on moving day, tying for seventh place and raising the potential to win her 12th LPGA title — having won her last title on the tour in 2013.

“It rained quite heavily in the morning, so for a lack of better expressions, the range was really silky and smooth, so earlier in the day, it was easier playing-wise,” Shin said during a post round press conference. “But then as the day went by, the green got quite firm and hard and the greens became quite tricky. So much so that I had to read the wind to putt. Even with the really short putts, I was really concentrating because the winds were changing.”

Shin’s score is a nine-under-par, 207, as of third round and she has so far only made three bogeys: One bogey on the seventh hole on Thursday and two bogeys on the 10th and 18th holes on Friday.

“I can’t pick out one hole because they might look similar, but each and every hole on this course is different, so you have to take different strategies on each hole,” Shin said, when asked which part of the course was the most challenging. “But I think overall, in terms of momentum, the back nine course will be really important.”

Behind Shin, amateur Park Seo-jin is the highest-ranked Korean golfer, ending round three with a seven-under-par, 209, and tied for 11th.

Despite the early rain, there was hardly a cloud in the sky Saturday afternoon as the players continued to drive through the course at Seowon Valley Country Club’s Seowon Hills. Following the players, fans hiked along a sprawling and hilly green nestled among mountains in northern Gyeonggi, where the leaves have begun to change color.

A total of 76 golfers are vying for a piece of the championship’s $2.2 million purse, the largest in its history, after two withdrew from the list. The winner is set to walk away with $330,000.

The BMW Championship is the only LPGA Tour stop in Korea and one of seven tournaments held in Asia this season. The Tour will head to Malaysia after the tournament in Paju ends on Sunday.

After that, Japan will host the decades-old Toto Japan Classic before the circuit heads back to the United States to close out the season.

BY MARY YANG AND PAIK JI-HWAN [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]