MADEIRA, Ohio — Minjee Lee rode a 7-under 65 to jump to the top of the leaderboard after the third round of the 2023 LPGA Kroger Queen City Championship Presented by P&G. Lee’s 7 under was the lowest score of the day.
Lee, who started the third round six strokes off the lead, now leads the field by two strokes heading into the final round. CME’s World No. 26 player has a chance Sunday to add to her eight career wins in her eight years as an LPGA pro.
The 27-year-old Australian posted a bogey-free round Saturday; Lee started her round with a birdie-birdie-birdie opening three holes.
“(The three birdies) gave me a little bit of confidence going into the rest of the round,” Lee said. “Obviously having a fun start is always nice, and when you’re putting it really well, it also helps … I think just having the momentum really helps.”
Lee is yet to solidify a tournament win in 2023, but in her eight-year career has emerged victorious from both come-from-behind weekends and lead-holding weekends. In Cincinnati, Lee believes the course conditions will play a role in how Sunday goes.
Depending on the wind, the pin locations, and green firmness, Lee will determine game-time what her best approach to holding the two-stroke lead will be, she said.
Two leaders outside CME Top 100
Inside the top 10 of the Queen City Championship standings are No. 107 Morgane Metraux (tied for fourth) and No. 112 Frida Kinhult (tied for 10th). Kinhult shot the second-best score of the day, a 6-under 66, to climb from 47th place.
Kinhult teed off her day with three straight birdies on the first three holes, followed by two pars and two more birdies to shoot 5-under on the front nine. Kinhult rode two birdies and a bogey on the back to close her three-day score at 208.
Metraux, of Switzerland, opened her day with back-to-back bogeys on the first two holes and shot two more on the rest of the front nine. Despite the four bogeys, Metraux garnered five back-nine birdies to finish Saturday’s 18 holes with a 2-under 70.
“I just jokingly said ‘let’s just make it easier on ourselves on the back nine,’” Metraux said of her mindset at the turn. “I hit a few really good shots in a row and made a few putts, and it was just really solid. I didn’t quite hit all my spots on the front nine, and then I did on the back nine.”
Metraux recognized what an up-and-down day it was for her and the rest of the field, and, similar to Lee, anticipates unpredictable conditions going into Sunday’s final round.
World No. 2 Ruoning Yin stays near top
Yin, who is playing for a chance at a World No. 1 ranking in Cincinnati this weekend, shot a 1-over 73 to fall six spots from second to T-8. Yin opened her day playing bogey golf until hole four, where she went bogey-free for the rest of the day.
A top four individual finish is required if Yin wants the CME No. 1 spot after the Kroger Queen City Championship. Her 9-under 207 through three days has her six strokes off the lead, three strokes from a spot in the top four.
Former champion stays firm, stars fall in standings
- Ally Ewing, who won the inaugural Kroger Queen City Championship in 2022, stands tied for 15th after Saturday’s 18 holes. Ewing opened back-to-back Cincinnati tournaments with 3-under 69 scores but has slowed the pace in comparison to a year ago. On Saturday, Ewing shot a 1-under 71. A day with 15 pars, two birdies and a bogey, Ewing started the day in 19th and climbed four places.
- LPGA superstar Rose Zhang, currently CME’s No. 28 golfer, shot a 1-over 73 to fall from 14th to T-27. Zhang is shooting a 5-under 211 in the weekend’s three days thus far, leaving the 20-year-old Stanford University student three strokes out of the top 10.
- Ruixin Liu, who led the field at 7 under after round one Thursday, shot a 9-over 81 Saturday to fall from second place to T-47. Liu, who has been forced to withdraw from tournaments in the past due to allergies on grass, still sits at 1-under par after three days in Cincinnati.
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