Ashleigh Buhai & Minjee Lee tied at the top of the leaderboard

BMW Ladies Championship R3

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.”

Pos.PlayerTo ParR1R2R3Total
T1Ashleigh Buhai-12627369204
T1Minjee Lee-12646971204
T3Lydia Ko-11676969205
T3Alison Lee-11637270205
T5Lauren Coughlin-10677267206
T5Celine Boutier-10667268206
T7Atthaya Thitikul-9707166207
T7Jiyai Shin-9697167207
T9Hannah Green-8697069208
T9Angel Yin-8696871208
T11Ariya Jutanugarn-7727067209
T11Sarah Schmelzel-7707267209
T11Seojin Park (a)-7687467209
T11Pajaree Anannarukarn-7717068209
T11Allisen Corpuz-7697169209
T11Jeongeun Lee6-7686873209
T17Yuka Saso-6726969210
T17Jenny Shin-6697071210
T17Brooke M. Henderson-6687171210
T17Maja Stark-6657471210
T17Ayaka Furue-6647571210
T17Nelly Korda-6706872210
T23Hee Young Park-5717169211
T23In Gee Chun-5717169211
T23Gaby Lopez-5707170211
T23Hyo Joo Kim-5687172211
T23Jodi Ewart Shadoff-5657373211
T23Yan Liu-5667174211
T29Perrine Delacour-4717566212
T29Hye-Jin Choi-4727169212
T29Esther Henseleit-4697469212
T29Andrea Lee-4707270212
T29Eun-Hee Ji-4717071212
T29Linnea Strom-4697271212
T29Ruoning Yin-4657572212
T29A Lim Kim-4706973212
T37Carlota Ciganda-3757167213
T37Soomin Oh (a)-3717567213
T37Sung Hyun Park-3727368213
T37Grace Kim-3727269213
T37Jin Young Ko-3746970213
T37Mi Hyang Lee-3717270213
T37Linn Grant-3707271213
T37Amy Yang-3697272213
T37Megan Khang-3677373213
T37Hae Ran Ryu-3657177213
T47Rose Zhang-2747070214
T47Nasa Hataoka-2727171214
T47Stephanie Kyriacou-2687373214
T50Yu Liu-1727271215
T50Alexa Pano-1687473215
T52Sarah KempPar697671216
T52Stephanie MeadowPar677871216
T52Moriya JutanugarnPar707373216
T52Narin AnPar687573216
T52Patty TavatanakitPar707274216
T52Hinako ShibunoPar677277216
T58Peiyun Chien+1707770217
T58Aditi Ashok+1697573217
T58Georgia Hall+1737074217
T58Madelene Sagstrom+1697276217
T62Jennifer Kupcho+2717671218
T62Nanna Koerstz Madsen+2707474218
T62Jieun Seo (a)+2717176218
T65Ryann O'Toole+3767172219
T65Albane Valenzuela+3707673219
T65Lilia Vu+3697674219
T68So Yeon Ryu+4737671220
T68Sei Young Kim+4698071220
T68Gemma Dryburgh+4687775220
T71Maria Fassi+5727871221
T71Olivia Cowan+5737474221
73Chanettee Wannasaen+6727674222
74Celine Borge+10737677226
75Matilda Castren+12737778228
76Dabeen Yun (a)+32788783248
W/DDanielle Kang7278
W/DAnna Nordqvist69
Updated: October 21, 2023
BMW Ladies Championship 2023
Date: 19th October - 22nd October, 2023
Location: Seowon Hills at Seowon Valley Country Club,| Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
Purse: $2,200,000

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