South Africa's Ashleigh Buhai shot a bogey-free 69 to regain a share of the lead at 12-under at the BMW Ladies Championship alongside overnight leader Minjee Lee of Australia who carded a 71.
Buhai was one of three players to post a bogey-free round on Saturday after carding four bogeys in her final six holes on Friday for her only blemishes on the scorecard this week. Buhai’s first of three birdies on Saturday came at the start on No. 1, where she took advantage of a scoreable par-5 opportunity. She notched another before the turn on No. 6, and then made 10-straight pars until finally adding one last on the reachable par-4 17th.
“The back nine gets really tricky being up against more of the mountain. Especially like 12, 13, 14, 15. It really bounces around. So I felt I played those holes really well. Stayed very patient,” said Buhai, who hit all 18 greens in regulation on Saturday. “I hit a lot of good putts today, they just didn't drop. But, again, maybe just outside that range. But I hit a lot of good lag putts that were just tap-in. So it was good.”
Lee posted three birdies on Nos. 3, 11 and 15, and despite two-straight bogeys on Nos. 12 and 13, she said she’s in good spirits on how her game feels with 18 holes to go.
“The whole year I didn't really feel like my game was too far away. But it was like I had two good rounds and two average rounds. So it was like getting everything together was a little bit harder for the first, I don't know, three quarters of the year, I guess,” said Lee. “And obviously Kroger, and I think that really helped me with my confidence and just a little bit more trust in my game, my putting, and pretty much all aspects of my game.”
Defending champion Lydia Ko (69) of New Zealand and American Alison Lee (70)are just one shot back of the duo at 11-under. Ko has a lot on the line this week – as a sponsor’s invite, the only way she can earn official CME Points is with a victory. Entering the week at No. 101 in the Race to the CME Globe, she’d be projected into the top 40 with a win, as she looks to defend her season-ending championship come November.
“I'm grateful for the opportunity to be somewhat around I think maybe a couple shots or whatever behind the leader and to -- it would be really cool to be able to defend obviously being here in Korea,” said Ko, who has carded three-straight sub-70 rounds, the only one among the field. “But there's still a lot of golf to be played, and there's so many potentially especially good low scorers out there. So I'm just going to go out there and have fun and hopefully play some good golf myself tomorrow.”
American Lauren Coughlin’s second 67 of the week, which included a hole-out from the fairway on No. 1, put her in a tie for fifth with three-time 2023 Tour winner Celine Boutier of France at 9-under. For the first 16 holes, Boutier steadily climbed the leaderboard after starting the third round in a tie for ninth. She made six birdies on the day in that stretch, with four coming in five holes between holes 12-16, and even took the solo lead after her last birdie of the day. But, after finding the water off an unlucky bounce on No. 17 and then falling victim to swirling and changing winds on 18, Boutier closed with back-to-back bogeys to settle for a 4-under 68 on Moving Day.
“I think it's not a tournament until you play 72 holes. So I feel like, yeah, it's good to put yourself in position, but there's still so much that can happen. So I just honestly try to stay in the moment,” said Boutier. “I feel like it's really no point in getting ahead of yourself too much, and I feel like especially like with the quality of the field and the fact that golf is also a game that's a little bit unpredictable, it's best to just be able to focus on what you can manage.”
