How Jing Yan would handle being a first-time leader on the LPGA Tour was quickly answered on Saturday as the 36-hole frontrunner became the 54-hole leader at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give.
“I was a little bit nervous, but I tried to take it as a good thing. You don’t learn to be in this position without being in this position,” Yan told Golf Channel after her round. “I try to think of it as excitement and helped me focus and yeah, but there were some nerves there. The heart was beating.”
Yan has gone bogey-free over her last 47 holes at Blythefield Country Club and will seek to maintain that same consistency on Sunday. The 12-year LPGA veteran hopes to hold off Lottie Woad, who sits just one back of Yan, and Cassie Porter, who trails by two strokes, in hopes of winning for the first time on tour.
“I feel like pressure can be a good thing, and it’s fun to just try and play the best game that I can play. That’s all I can do. Not try to look too much left or right because there is a ton of great players out here,” Yan said about her strategy for the final round. “I feel like I can only do what I can do instead of sometimes you get caught up in other people’s strengths.”
Yan took a one-stroke lead into Saturday’s round but was quickly joined at the top of the leaderboard by Woad and Porter. The trio sat in a tie at the top as Yan made the turn. She looked poised to give up her first shot of the day at the par-5 14th when her pitch short of the putting surface ran well past the hole. Yan was able to save par with a critical two-putt through the shadows to maintain a one-stroke advantage. At the par-4 17th, Yan made another important save after her tee ball found the right rough and settled behind a huge tree. Yan managed to hoist her second shot up and over the branches and onto the green where she again managed to two-putt for par.
“I just try to play like how I would normally play. And I got close to a couple bogeys, so skirted them,” Yan said about the critical par saves she made over the closing stretch. “I just try to play really steady and I’m glad that I didn’t have any bogeys.”
Woad fought a wayward driver throughout the day in which she found only six fairways that ultimately cost her the outright lead. After the round, she said that with the golf course firming up on Saturday that some of her tee shots ran out of the fairways and into the rough. Load settled for a 68 with a critical closing birdie to remain in the hunt for a chance to win for the second time in her last three starts.
“I’ve been in a few final groups now and it’s gone my way on a couple occasions. But obviously if someone plays better than you it’s going to go their way,” Woad said. “I think just trying to get off to a good start and try and get back ahead and push early and just keep putting the pressure on is what we’re going to try to do.”
Porter, like Yan, will be chasing her first career victory. Saturday, the second-year member struggled with a balky putter and missed multiple putts on the high side for a 69.
“I think we did a really good job out there today managing the different conditions, the greens got firmer as the day went on so my speed was a little iffy,” Porter said about her struggles with her putting. “I’m going to work on that right now.”
On Saturday morning, In Gee Chun carded the low round of the week with a bogey-free, 7-under-par, 65. The three-time major champion’s hot round came after a challenging Friday in which she strung together 18 consecutive pars.
“I think from every course, to make a bogey-free round is very hard because we need a lot of patience out there,” Chun said about the challenge of the past two days. “But it was a little hard to have a birdie-free round yesterday.”
As the wind eased on Saturday and greens began to firm up, Wei-Ling Hsu played her way into contention on Saturday to match Chun at 10 under. Hsu went out in 31, highlighted by three consecutive birdies on Nos. 7, 8 and 9. But she ran into some trouble on the second nine and gave up three bogeys offset by two birdies to post 68. The LPGA veteran’s lone victory came in 2021, but after making the turn following her hot start on Saturday, she felt like she’d already won the tournament just enjoying the thrill of being back in the chase.
“The moment I was standing on No. 9 I feel like, wow, this is amazing. Like I love golf so much,” Hsu said after her round. “So I feel like I very enjoyed the moment and I feel like I already am the winner at the moment. So I think tomorrow I will just like -- I hope I can just stay calm and don’t think about too much. Just play my game, yeah. Hopefully I can enjoy again tomorrow.”
First-round leader Yan Liu posted a 70 on Moving Day to remain in the mix at 10 under heading into the final round. She is one stroke ahead of a trio of players at 9 under that includes Jin Hee Im, Riley Smyth and major champion Miyu Yamashita, who closed with a 31 on her back nine on Saturday to shoot 67.
Yu Liu, Minami Katsu, Jenny Bae, Minji Kang, Karis Davidson and Rio Takeda round out the top 10 at 8 under par.