Yani Tseng In Position For Her Fourth Win In 2011 After Third Round Of Honda LPGA Thailand, But Michelle Wie, In-Kyung Kim And Paula Creamer Are Lurking

Yani Tseng

Yani Tseng started 2011 with a TLPGA win in her native Taiwan. She followed that up with two LET wins in Australia, the latter securing her the #1 world ranking. After the third round of the opening tournament of the LPGA season, the Honda LPGA Thailand, she sits atop the leaderboard once again, looking for win #4 of 2011. There is considerable buzz surrounding Yani. It’s early in 2011 and a lot could happen, but no less an authority than Annika Sorenstam predicted Yani would be the future top player on tour. It seems, at this moment, that the 2010 LPGA Player of the Year may have gone through the transformative process with her game and mind that is bringing Annika’s words to fruition. It was not the cleanest round for Yani in the third stanza, double bogeying the par 4 2nd. But she came back with 5 birdies against 3 bogeys after that before emphatically ending her round with an eagle on the par 5 18th to grab the outright lead going into Sunday.

Michelle Wie

But before we start popping champagne for Yani, there is a trio of players right behind her that could spoil the celebration. Michelle Wie bogeyed 3 of her first 5 holes to threaten to put herself out of contention. But she came back shoot 1-under overall for the round, including finishing the last 6 holes with 3 birdies to put herself only one back of Yani. Also one back is first and second round leader In-Kyung Kim. After a brilliant 9-under 63 on day one, she has sort of meandered with a 73 and 72 in the following rounds. That’s not horrible, and she is only 1 back going into the final round, but it does feel like her opening round has been squandered. And at 2 shots back, 2010 US Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer is a major threat to slip by all three previously mentioned players. The Pink Panther has been quietly efficient here, putting herself in striking distance of the leaders.

POS	START	CNTRY	PLAYER	TO PAR	THRU	TODAY	R1	R2	R3	R4	TOTAL
1	1	TWN	TSENG, Yani	-9	12:16 PM		66	71	70		207
T2	T2	USA	WIE, Michelle	-8	12:16 PM		69	68	71		208
T2	T2	KOR	KIM, I.K.	-8	12:08 PM		63	73	72		208
4	4	USA	CREAMER, Paula	-7	12:08 PM		69	70	70		209
5	5	AUS	WEBB, Karrie	-6	12:00 PM		74	68	68		210
6	6	KOR	HUR, M.J.	-5	12:00 PM		71	72	68		211
T7	T7	USA	LEWIS, Stacy	-4	11:52 AM		69	72	71		212
T7	T7	JPN	MIYAZATO, Mika	-4	11:52 AM		70	72	70		212
T7	T7	USA	INKSTER, Juli	-4	11:44 AM		66	73	73		212
T7	T7	THA	PHATLUM, Pornanong	-4	11:44 AM		70	70	72		212
T11	T11	THA	*JUTANUGARN, Ariya	-3	11:28 AM		74	72	67		213
T11	T11	KOR	YANG, Amy	-3	11:28 AM		73	70	70		213
T11	T11	USA	GULBIS, Natalie	-3	11:20 AM		71	70	72		213
T11	T11	NOR	PETTERSEN, Suzann	-3	11:20 AM		68	72	73		213
T11	T11	GBR	MATTHEW, Catriona	-3	11:12 AM		67	73	73		213
T16	T16	USA	KERR, Cristie	-2	11:12 AM		71	71	72		214
T16	T16	JPN	UEDA, Momoko	-2	11:04 AM		70	69	75		214
18	18	USA	PRAMMANASUDH, Stacy	-1	11:04 AM		71	69	75		215
T19	T19	SWE	HJORTH, Maria	E	10:56 AM		70	78	68		216
T19	T19	FRA	ICHER, Karine	E	10:56 AM		76	72	68		216
T19	T19	KOR	CHOI, Na Yeon	E	10:48 AM		69	70	77		216
T19	T19	COL	URIBE, Mariajo	E	10:48 AM		72	74	70		216
T23	T23	JPN	MIYAZATO, Ai	+1	10:32 AM		75	69	73		217
T23	T23	SWE	NORDQVIST, Anna	+1	10:32 AM		78	68	71		217
T23	T23	KOR	YOO, Sun Young	+1	10:24 AM		69	73	75		217
T26	T26	DEU	GAL, Sandra	+2	10:24 AM		75	74	69		218
T26	T26	USA	HURST, Vicky	+2	10:16 AM		76	70	72		218
T26	T26	USA	STANFORD, Angela	+2	10:16 AM		75	71	72		218
T26	T26	KOR	BAE, Kyeong	+2	10:08 AM		73	73	72		218
T30	T30	AUS	HULL, Katherine	+3	10:08 AM		75	72	72		219
T30	T30	TWN	KUNG, Candie	+3	10:00 AM		70	77	72		219
T30	T30	USA	LINCICOME, Brittany	+3	10:00 AM		73	70	76		219
T30	T30	USA	MCPHERSON, Kristy	+3	9:52 AM		71	72	76		219
T30	T30	ESP	RECARI, Beatriz	+3	9:52 AM		72	71	76		219
T35	T35	KOR	PAK, Se Ri	+4	9:44 AM		75	76	69		220
T35	T35	KOR	SHIN, Jiyai	+4	9:44 AM		73	71	76		220
T35	T35	CHN	FENG, Shanshan	+4	9:36 AM		72	72	76		220
T35	T35	GBR	STUPPLES, Karen	+4	9:36 AM		70	73	77		220
T39	T39	KOR	HAN, Hee-Won	+5	9:28 AM		77	70	74		221
T39	T39	USA	LANG, Brittany	+5	9:28 AM		73	75	73		221
T39	T39	TWN	HUNG, Amy	+5	9:12 AM		75	72	74		221
T39	T39	KOR	*JUTANUGARN, Moriya	+5	9:12 AM		73	73	75		221
T39	T39	USA	BLUMENHERST, Amanda	+5	9:04 AM		73	70	78		221
T39	T39	KOR	PARK, Inbee	+5	9:04 AM		72	74	75		221
T45	T45	KOR	PARK, Hee Young	+6	8:56 AM		72	73	77		222
T45	T45	USA	PRESSEL, Morgan	+6	8:56 AM		70	75	77		222
47	47	KOR	KANG, Jimin	+7	8:48 AM		71	74	78		223
T48	T48	KOR	LEE, Meena	+8	8:48 AM		78	72	74		224
T48	T48	USA	KORDA, Jessica	+8	8:40 AM		73	73	78		224
T48	T48	KOR	LEE, Seon Hwa	+8	8:40 AM		72	74	78		224
T51	T51	KOR	KIM, Song-Hee	+9	8:32 AM		74	74	77		225
T51	T51	ESP	MUNOZ, Azahara	+9	8:32 AM		77	74	74		225
T53	T53	USA	CASTRALE, Nicole	+10	8:24 AM		78	76	72		226
T53	T53	SWE	GUSTAFSON, Sophie	+10	8:24 AM		78	70	78		226
T53	T53	USA	KIM, Christina	+10	8:16 AM		73	75	78		226
T53	T53	USA	SONG, Jennifer	+10	8:16 AM		76	71	79		226
T57	T57	ZAF	PACE, Lee-Anne	+11	8:08 AM		71	79	77		227
T57	T57	USA	WARD, Wendy	+11	8:08 AM		71	79	77		227
59	59	FRA	NOCERA, Gwladys	+12	8:00 AM		75	75	78		228
60	60	THA	*YOKTUAN, Pavarisa	+15	8:00 AM		79	73	79		231

Yani Tseng

Michelle Wie

In-Kyung Kim

Paula Creamer

Mi Jung Hur

Momoko Ueda

Ai-chan

Na Yeon Choi

Natalie Gulbis

Pornanong Phatlum

Amanda Blumenherst

Suzann Pettersen