Greenery gets underway while Aussies enters water
Hannah Green on Saturday at the 2019 Evian Championship.
Head champion Hannah Green has achieved her first sub-round of the week in Evian as the leading 18-hole Australian to play.
Saturday 69 of Western Australia was far from routine, Green made only two behind nine pars for the second day in a row.
But after finding 11 of 13 fairways and 14 greens in the regulations, the 22-year-old is slowly dialed in after a month of free tour.
Green and Queensland & Katherine Kirk will fight it out tomorrow for the honor of the best Australian in women; the second richest major of golf, both women currently at the same distance through 54 holes.
The young gun Su Oh is a stroke further back after an even-par-71 of her own, while 78 by Sarah Kemp has seen her glide back to the tail of the field.
At the top of the rankings it is all Korea.
Hyo Joo Kim & # 39; s 65 was one better than World No.1 Sung Hyun Park & # 39; s third round effort, Kim rose to 15-under for the week and one free from her countrywoman.
The Australian Open women's champion JY Ko of 2018 is with a lead of 11 on less than a 66 of herself, accompanied by that brand by Inbee Park.
Green reigns as the newest great champion of women's golf, but everything is over, but the third round of World No. 25 is a new step in reclaiming the form that saw her win at Hazeltine.
After turning 10, Green made a trio of birdies from the 14th, including an almost ace on 16 (for the second consecutive day) who barely established a foot of the cup.
"I was going to hit the 20 foot well, but pulled it," said Green. “Fortunately I had the right club. It was closer than I thought it was there. "
She immediately returned that blow with a bogey at 17, before a birdie at 18 preceded a double on the 1st.
But a seventh birdie of the day on the 8th par-3 provided a solid boost that Green is heading in the right direction.
“I hit it a lot better today, much more greens. Almost double the greens I touched the first two days, "said Green.
"It certainly gets better every day, slowly, which is good. I think it is better than no progress.
"I certainly feel more at ease and back in tournament mode."
It was again a consistently striking ball performance by triple LPGA Tour winner Kirk on Saturday, but the Queenslander had only 1 in 71 to show.
An inch of rain that soaked Evian Resort stretched out the course, even for the longer hitters in the field, but Kirk looked in control for most of her round.
After nine straight pars, Kirk was 1-down for the day, before a double bogey at four o'clock and a bogey at five stopped her momentum.
Statistically, the 434m par-4 4th is the most difficult hole of the course this week.
But Kirk took advantage of the par-5 7 on the way back to the clubhouse, noting a third bird of the day to keep in touch with the top 40 in the rankings.
"I just hit the second shot in four and turned it into a mess," Kirk said.
“It was disappointing to make a double, but it can happen quite easily here. I was happy to keep birdie seven and to stay there. You are going to make mistakes there. "
One thing that Kirk did brilliantly this week is avoiding mistakes with the flatstick. She still has to take a three-putt through 54 holes and on Saturday she only missed the tee twice.
"I only missed two fairways all day, so I hit it pretty well," Kirk said.
"It played a lot softer and longer, so I had a few longer clubs in which it was probably a bit harder to score.
"I won't change anything for tomorrow, just give myself 18 chances at birdie and hope the putter cooperates."
Su Oh experienced an equally frustrating day, accepting the Victorian with an even-par 71 and 1-over for the tournament.
The World No.84 has grown in confidence as the week progressed, but Oh could only collect two birdies on Saturday.
Oh & # 39; s second bird arrived on her last hole of the day, the par-5 9th, after admitting a stroke with a bogey on April 8.
"I thought I played better than I scored today," Oh said.
“On Monday when I arrived here, I hit the ball so badly, I was so worried. So I feel like I'm doing better every day.
"Some of the holes feel tighter than they actually are and the rugged is so thick that it is so punitive when you are just off the fairway."
While her country women found a way to enter water on Saturday, it was a bit harder for Sarah Kemp.
A 7-over-78 third round came off the air for the Sydneysider, Kemp recorded seven bogeys on a day where she could only find nine of the 18 greens in the regulations.
Sunday's start times have been reduced to 10 a.m. local time (6 p.m. AEST) due to predicted rain & # 39;
