Ashleigh Buhai carded her best round of the championship on Saturday as she signed for a four-under-par 67 in the third round of the Amundi Evian Championship to move into a share of 15th.
It wasn’t the best of starts for her as she made a double-bogey six on the opening hole, but she made up for that with three birdies in her first nine, on the third, fourth and sixth, to turn in one-under 34. She got things going really well on her homeward nine after a poor start there, too, when she bogeyed the 10th. She made four birdies, however, and, at eight-under for the championship, she was nine shots off the lead which was held by Canada’s Brooke Henderson at 17-under.
Henderson maintained the lead she has held throughout, although her three-stroke advantage was reduced to two following a big move from South Korean So Yeon Ryu. A few missed birdie chances from close range cost Henderson the chance to take a big lead into the final round at Evian Resort Golf Club. However, at 17-under-par, the 24-year-old from Ontario is still well placed to capture her second major championship.
After signing for a three-under-par 68, which included a bogey at the first hole and four birdies, she said: “It was wasn’t as good as the first two days, but I really hung in there. I made some clutch par saves on the back nine, which felt nice.
“There were not as many birdies on the card. I felt like the course was playing a little bit tougher for me today. Hopefully I’ll go out tomorrow and continue to ball strike pretty well and hopefully make some putts.”
The other South Africans in the field, Paula Reto and Lee-Anne Pace, missed the cut.
This is Buhai’s sixth appearance in this major, and she has a best finish of a share of 37th from 2019. A top-15 finish or better this week will tune her up nicely for the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield on August 4.
