Sei Young Kim carded a 3-under-par 69 on Saturday to carry a four-stroke lead heading into the final round of the BMW Ladies Championship in Haenam, South Korea.
Kim benefited from an eagle on the 17th hole to highlight an eventful day in which she had five birdies against four bogeys at Pine Beach Golf Links.
The Korean broke the 54-hole tournament scoring record with her three-day total of 19-under 197, and she is on pace to break the 72-hole mark of 266, set by Jin Young Ko and Hee Jeong Lim in 2021 at LPGA International Busan.
Kim is bidding for her 13th LPGA Tour victory of her career and first since 2020.
She is four shots better than Yealimi Noh (67 on Saturday) and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka (69).
Kim, however, said she is not trying to get ahead of herself.
“You just have to deal with the situation, whichever that you have, so that’s — I think that’s the homework that I have for (Sunday), and it’s really a fight against myself,” she said. “I think that applies to all sports games. I hope to succeed at that (on Sunday).”
This marks the second time that Kim has led or shared the lead after the first, second and third rounds of the same tournament on the LPGA Tour. She went on to win the other occasion, the 2019 CME Group Tour Championship.
Noh registered six birdies against one bogey on Saturday to keep Kim in her sights. The American is hoping to draw off her victory earlier this season at the Founders Cup.
“Just so much confidence, confidence that I really needed. And then it was a great start to the year,” Noh said of that win in February. “Obviously being one of the first events, and it just helped me keep that momentum and get it back this time of the year, too.”
American Brooke Matthews (74) triple-bogeyed the par-3 15th hole to fall six strokes back of Kim and into a tie for fourth place with South Korean Somi Lee (67), France’s Celine Boutier (69) and Japan’s Rio Takeda (72).
Korean A Lim Kim (68) and Sweden’s Linn Grant (69) are tied for eighth at 12-under, one shot ahead of defending champion Hannah Green (68) and fellow Australian Minjee Lee (71).
Korean Haeji Kang withdrew during the third round due to injury.
