After eight birdies in each of her first two rounds, Ashleigh Buhai managed just two on Saturday in the third round of the LPGA Tour’s BMW Ladies Championship at Seowon Hills Country Club in Paju, South Korea.
Buhai completed the final nine holes of the rain-affected second round with four consecutive birdies which pretty much wiped out the effects of a double-bogey seven on the eighth hole. That put her two strokes off the 36-hole lead which was held by Australia’s Hannah Green.
Buhai’s third round had a bogey to go with her two birdies, and she moved to 15-under-par for the tournament and third place. She was now three strokes off Green’s lead, and 2024 LPGA Tour rookie Yu Jin Sung quietly had the round of the week, draining nine birdies on her way to the second 18-hole score of 63 on the season. The Korean carded just three on the front nine before turning on jets to record birdies on six of her last nine holes to help her get to solo-second. Sung would be the first rookie from the 2024 class to win on tour this season if she can close Green’s two-shot lead.
It was Buhai’s putting which was the difference between her third round and the first two: She had 28 and 26 putts in her first two rounds, but 32 in the third, and that kept her from challenging or even bettering Green’s efforts.
The other South African in the field, Paula Reto, made the cut, but her three-over-par 75 left her in a share of 72nd on two-over for the tournament.
