Jodi Ewart Shadoff remained bogey-free and posted another 69 to take a four-shot lead into the final day of the LPGA Mediheal Championship.
A win on Sunday would be her first on the LPGA Tour in her 246th start and she would become the third wire-to-wire winner this season.
After breaking the 36-hole record on Friday, the Englishwoman now holds the new tournament 54-hole record with a 202 total. She also holds the 54-hole lead for the first time on Tour.
“I hit my driver really well again today. Hit a lot of greens again. Just I think my speed putting was really good today. So I think overall I just feel really comfortable with how I’m hitting the ball, and, yeah, it was steady and consistent again. It’s always nice to have a bogey-free round of course.
“I think anything can happen on a Sunday. I think four shots is nice, but as I said, there is world class players around me. Anything can happen. I just have to stick to my game and concentrate on what I’m doing and stay in the moment.”
Paula Reto also carded a 3-under 69 to sit in solo second at 10-under. She recently won at the CP Women’s Open and is hoping to become the second South African on Tour to earn at least two wins following 15-time winner Sally Little.
“I need to give myself a lot of opportunities. [Jodi’s] playing really steady, real strong, not making any bogeys, so I’m going to have to try to do the same and just give myself opportunities, but try not to think about it, have fun and enjoy it as well,” said Reto. “We enjoy to compete and be out here, so that’s what I’m going to do tomorrow, and have a good attitude about it.”
American Andrea Lee, France’s Celine Boutier and Japan’s Hinako Shibuno (68) are tied in third place at 9-under. Lee and Boutier carded 6-under 66s, the lowest rounds of the day, as did Dana Finkelstein (USA, T21 at 5-under).
Boutier has had ten top-10 finishes this season, four of them in her last five events. She has won twice previously and another title on Sunday would make her the most successful French golfer in Tour history, passing Patricia Meunier-Lebouc and Anne-Marie Palli (two wins each).
“I know that there is going to be a lot of birdie chances out here, and I feel like the more chances you’re going to have the better, because you’re not going to make everything. So it’s definitely very good for my confidence I feel like, because I know I’m going to have some chances even when, you know, I didn’t get the best of starts, kind of slow,” said Boutier. “But I knew there were some chances out there left so I kept being patient and doing my thing and it worked out.”
