NORTON, Mass. — Miranda Wang left the TPC Boston with a three-shot lead for the second straight day, this time having to overcome a three-shot deficit with sensible placing that led to a 7-under 65 in the FM Championship as she goes after her first LPGA victory.
Wang took only 24 putts on the rain-softened course, and might have been helped by only have to play 18 holes. Some of the Chinese participant’s challengers confronted much longer days because of storms that interrupted so much play the day before.
She holed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th gap to cap off a bogey-free spherical that gave her a three-shot lead over Sei Young Kim (71) and Rose Zhang (67).
Wang was at 18-under 198.
“This is where all the players want to be, so it’s definitely special going into the final round being the sole leader,” Wang said. “This is what we try to do every week, so I’m just happy that I did my job really well. I hope to continue doing what I did today.”
Kim had a massive scoring runs on both nines Saturday morning when she performed 14 holes to full her second spherical at 65 to construct a three-shot lead. The afternoon wasn’t so clean, and her lead was gone in three holes.
She didn’t get out of bunker on the par-5 second gap, main to bogey that felt much worse. Then, she failed to get up-and-down on the par-3 third.
Wang pulled forward for the first time with a birdie on the sixth, and she confirmed what variety of day it would be on the next gap. She fanned her strategy on the par-5 seventh to the proper and off a tree. She pulled her third shot some 60 toes long, and then made it for birdie.
Wang also made a 40-foot birdie putt on the 14th gap and ended the day on a streak of 27 consecutive holes without a bogey.
Key to the week for the former Duke participant was her back 9 on Thursday. Wang had eight birdies (along with a bogey) for a 29 on the entrance 9, an indication that she felt snug on the greens.
“Ever since I had really hot back nine on first round my putting has been clicking. I was getting speed and line really well and I made super long putts on No. 7 today, and that gave me even more confidence,” she said. “I know that I’m doing well on these greens so when putting I’m more confident and comfortable.”
Zhang, who won her first LPGA occasion as a professional two years in the past, has not had a high 10 against full subject all 12 months as she tried to break up time between taking part in and ending up at Stanford.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been in contention, so I’m very, very grateful,” Zhang said.
She had to play 32 holes — 14 in the morning when she had a 64, and then she had 4 birdies in a five-hole stretch around the flip in the afternoon as she tried to keep tempo with Wang.
“Feel like I’ll I’ve been doing today is eating and drinking water and electrolytes,” Zhang said. “It’s been a while since I played 32 holes. I needed to grind it out a little bit. I needed to stay focused. But I felt like I took a lot of positives today knowing that I have resilience to play consistent golf and keep trying to be better it.”
Jeeno Thitikul (65) and Andrea Lee (66) were 4 photographs behind.
Nelly Korda’s search for her first LPGA victory this 12 months probably will have to wait. She was in vary when she left the course Friday evening, but she could only handle a 70 in the morning and a 70 in the afternoon. Korda failed to birdie any of the 4 par 5s.
She was 9 photographs behind.
Wang, an LPGA rookie, will strive to lengthen a outstanding streak on the LPGA Tour this 12 months. There have been 22 tournaments, all of them won by totally different gamers.
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