Na Yeon Choi (click to enlarge)
Defending Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia champion Na Yeon Choi leads the 2012 tournament by 2 strokes after the third round. Her 4 birdie, 1 bogey 3-under 68 (par is 71 here) has the world #4 sitting atop the leaderboard at 13-under. While the 2012 US Open winner is in position for her second LPGA title of the year, she need only look over her shoulder to find 2008 US Women’s Open champion and fellow South Korean Inbee Park on her heels at 11-under. It’s been an interesting year for NYC. Of course, there really isn’t anything to complain about. After all, she won the biggest women’s golf tournament in the world, not to mention a couple more runner-up finishes. However, there is in me a nagging feeling that Choi has it within herself to take the next big step. That is, she has all the tools to win 3, 4 or maybe more times per year. I really feel she’s that great. With a few more tournaments to go, getting win #2 for the year here would be a good start.
Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it is always a thrill to see young Thai phenom Ariya Jutanugarn in the top 10. She’s not going to be allowed to go to Q-school this year and that’s fine. Her time to shine will come. On another topic, I don’t really do happy birthday posts very often. There are just too many players on all the various tours. However, the good folks over at Golfing World did a nice birthday video for Cristie Kerr, so here it is even though it has nothing to do with this tournament.
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MIKA MIYAZATO
MOMOKO UEDA
LIZETTE SALAS
LINDSEY WRIGHT
PAULA CREAMER
EUN-HEE JI
KARRIE WEBB
BRITTANY LANG
INBEE PARK
AI MIYAZATO
IN-KYUNG KIM
STACY LEWIS
JESSICA KORDA
SUZANN PETTERSEN
MEENA LEE
SYDNEE MICHAELS
| Pos | Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Today | Thru | Total | Strokes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Na Yeon Choi | 65 | 67 | 68 | 9:51 pm | -3 | F | -13 | 200 |
| 2 | Inbee Park | 69 | 68 | 65 | 9:51 pm | -6 | F | -11 | 202 |
| 3 | Karrie Webb | 65 | 71 | 68 | 9:51 pm | -3 | F | -9 | 204 |
| T4 | Ai Miyazato | 68 | 69 | 68 | 9:40 pm | -3 | F | -8 | 205 |
| T4 | Suzann Pettersen | 71 | 64 | 70 | 9:40 pm | -1 | F | -8 | 205 |
| T6 | Paula Creamer | 69 | 67 | 70 | 9:40 pm | -1 | F | -7 | 206 |
| T6 | Catriona Matthew | 68 | 68 | 70 | 9:29 pm | -1 | F | -7 | 206 |
| T6 | Mika Miyazato | 66 | 69 | 71 | 9:29 pm | E | F | -7 | 206 |
| 9 | Brittany Lang | 69 | 68 | 70 | 9:29 pm | -1 | F | -6 | 207 |
| T10 | So Yeon Ryu | 68 | 73 | 67 | 9:18 pm | -4 | F | -5 | 208 |
| T10 | Ariya Jutanugarn | 69 | 72 | 67 | 9:18 pm | -4 | F | -5 | 208 |
| T10 | Sun Young Yoo | 66 | 70 | 72 | 9:07 pm | +1 | F | -5 | 208 |
| T10 | Lindsey Wright | 70 | 66 | 72 | 9:18 pm | +1 | F | -5 | 208 |
| T14 | Azahara Munoz | 71 | 71 | 67 | 9:07 pm | -4 | F | -4 | 209 |
| T14 | Karin Sjodin | 70 | 71 | 68 | 9:07 pm | -3 | F | -4 | 209 |
| T14 | Hee Young Park | 67 | 72 | 70 | 8:56 pm | -1 | F | -4 | 209 |
| T14 | Eun-Hee Ji | 70 | 67 | 72 | 8:56 pm | +1 | F | -4 | 209 |
| T14 | I.K. Kim | 70 | 67 | 72 | 8:56 pm | +1 | F | -4 | 209 |
| T14 | Momoko Ueda | 68 | 67 | 74 | 8:45 pm | +3 | F | -4 | 209 |
| T14 | Sydnee Michaels | 69 | 65 | 75 | 8:45 pm | +4 | F | -4 | 209 |
| T21 | Jiyai Shin | 71 | 70 | 69 | 8:34 pm | -2 | F | -3 | 210 |
| T21 | Ilhee Lee | 69 | 71 | 70 | 8:34 pm | -1 | F | -3 | 210 |
| T21 | Chella Choi | 71 | 74 | 65 | 8:45 pm | -6 | F | -3 | 210 |
| T21 | Karine Icher | 70 | 69 | 71 | 8:23 pm | E | F | -3 | 210 |
| T21 | Amy Yang | 70 | 69 | 71 | 8:34 pm | E | F | -3 | 210 |
| T26 | Beatriz Recari | 72 | 66 | 73 | 8:23 pm | +2 | F | -2 | 211 |
| T26 | Lizette Salas | 68 | 67 | 76 | 8:23 pm | +5 | F | -2 | 211 |
| T28 | Candie Kung | 70 | 71 | 71 | 8:12 pm | E | F | -1 | 212 |
| T28 | Jessica Korda | 68 | 71 | 73 | 8:12 pm | +2 | F | -1 | 212 |
| T28 | Stacy Lewis | 70 | 69 | 73 | 8:12 pm | +2 | F | -1 | 212 |
| T28 | Caroline Hedwall | 70 | 67 | 75 | 8:01 pm | +4 | F | -1 | 212 |
| T32 | Shanshan Feng | 70 | 72 | 71 | 7:50 pm | E | F | E | 213 |
| T32 | Cindy LaCrosse | 70 | 72 | 71 | 7:50 pm | E | F | E | 213 |
| T32 | Anna Nordqvist | 72 | 70 | 71 | 7:50 pm | E | F | E | 213 |
| T32 | Sandra Gal | 72 | 71 | 70 | 8:01 pm | -1 | F | E | 213 |
| T32 | Mo Martin | 70 | 70 | 73 | 7:50 pm | +2 | F | E | 213 |
| T32 | Jenny Shin | 72 | 74 | 67 | 8:01 pm | -4 | F | E | 213 |
| T38 | Julieta Granada | 72 | 72 | 70 | 7:50 pm | -1 | F | +1 | 214 |
| T38 | Meena Lee | 73 | 68 | 73 | 8:01 pm | +2 | F | +1 | 214 |
| T38 | Cristie Kerr | 68 | 77 | 69 | 7:50 pm | -2 | F | +1 | 214 |
| T41 | Katherine Hull | 70 | 71 | 74 | 8:12 pm | +3 | F | +2 | 215 |
| T41 | Mina Harigae | 70 | 71 | 74 | 8:01 pm | +3 | F | +2 | 215 |
| T41 | Gerina Piller | 70 | 74 | 71 | 8:01 pm | E | F | +2 | 215 |
| T44 | Hee-Won Han | 67 | 75 | 74 | 8:23 pm | +3 | F | +3 | 216 |
| T44 | Pornanong Phatlum | 74 | 70 | 72 | 8:12 pm | +1 | F | +3 | 216 |
| T44 | Nicole Castrale | 78 | 67 | 71 | 8:12 pm | E | F | +3 | 216 |
| T44 | Lexi Thompson | 69 | 71 | 76 | 8:23 pm | +5 | F | +3 | 216 |
| T48 | Brittany Lincicome | 71 | 73 | 73 | 8:45 pm | +2 | F | +4 | 217 |
| T48 | Sophie Gustafson | 71 | 74 | 72 | 8:34 pm | +1 | F | +4 | 217 |
| T48 | Danielle Kang | 72 | 73 | 72 | 8:34 pm | +1 | F | +4 | 217 |
| T48 | Jennifer Johnson | 74 | 72 | 71 | 8:34 pm | E | F | +4 | 217 |
| T48 | Michelle Wie | 75 | 72 | 70 | 8:23 pm | -1 | F | +4 | 217 |
| T53 | Jodi Ewart | 73 | 75 | 70 | 8:45 pm | -1 | F | +5 | 218 |
| T53 | Yani Tseng | 78 | 72 | 68 | 8:45 pm | -3 | F | +5 | 218 |
| 55 | Ssu-Chia Cheng | 75 | 72 | 73 | 8:56 pm | +2 | F | +7 | 220 |
| T56 | Alison Walshe | 71 | 72 | 78 | 9:07 pm | +7 | F | +8 | 221 |
| T56 | Haeji Kang | 69 | 76 | 76 | 8:56 pm | +5 | F | +8 | 221 |
| T56 | Aretha Pan | 73 | 73 | 75 | 8:56 pm | +4 | F | +8 | 221 |
| 59 | Vicky Hurst | 69 | 81 | 72 | 9:07 pm | +1 | F | +9 | 222 |
| 60 | Angela Stanford | 73 | 79 | 71 | 9:07 pm | E | F | +10 | 223 |
| T61 | Giulia Sergas | 76 | 72 | 76 | 9:18 pm | +5 | F | +11 | 224 |
| T61 | Mariajo Uribe | 81 | 73 | 70 | 9:18 pm | -1 | F | +11 | 224 |
| T63 | Jean Chua | 75 | 73 | 79 | 9:29 pm | +8 | F | +14 | 227 |
| T63 | Ainil Johani | 73 | 80 | 74 | 9:18 pm | +3 | F | +14 | 227 |
| 65 | Amanda Blumenherst | 72 | 76 | 80 | 9:29 pm | +9 | F | +15 | 228 |
| 66 | Carly Booth | 80 | 75 | 76 | 9:29 pm | +5 | F | +18 | 231 |
| 67 | Morgan Pressel | 79 | 83 | 81 | 9:40 pm | +10 | F | +30 | 243 |
| 68 | Sarfina Vinota | 81 | 84 | 81 | 9:40 pm | +10 | F | +33 | 246 |
| 69 | Natalie Gulbis | 72 | 79 | 9:23 pm | – | – | – | +9 | 151 |
| WD | Katie Futcher | WD | WD | WD | WD | WD | – | WD | WD |
| 70 | Se Ri Pak* | 74 | WD | WD | WD | – | – | – | 74 |
| 71 | Min Lee | 66 | DQ | DQ | DQ | – | – | – | 66 |
Fairways and Forehands 
Thanks BangkokB, for posing the results. I have missed the broadcasts of the tournament so far. As you may know I admire Na Yeon Choi a great deal. She is my favorite female athelete. I hope she can get that second win on the year. She certainly has the ability to be #1. But first I think she needs to get her head there. “She’s all that and a bag of chips” 🙂 going to reblog this.
I agree. She can do it. Sure, reblog the post…my goal is to spread the LPGA love! 🙂
Love what you do Bobby keep me in the loop. Watch the Hogs on espn360. Go hogs
May God Bless America Bill acord (notaxbill)
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Thanks! Of course, it’s always fun to share our fandom of the LPGA.