Yang Hee-young Fires 8-Under Par Surge... Jumps to Tied Lead by 3 Shots

Season Finale Tour Championship 3R Excitement
Chance for 5th Career Win in 4 Years 9 Months
Hataoka Leads, Allison Lee 3rd, Minji Lee 5th

This is Yang Hee-young's chance for her fifth career win.

On the 18th (local time), at the Tiburon Golf Club Gold Course (par 72, 6,556 yards) in Naples, Florida, USA, Yang shot an 8-under 64 in the third round of the CME Group Tour Championship, the final event of the 2023 LPGA Tour season with a total prize of $7 million, taking the top spot on the leaderboard at 21-under 195. Hataoka Nasa (Japan) joined the co-leader group, with Allison Lee (USA) in third place at 18-under 198, and Lin Xiyu (China) in fourth at 17-under 199.

Yang Hee-young is making an approach shot on the 15th hole of the 3rd round at the CME Group Tour Championship. [Naples, USA=AFP·Yonhap News]

Starting from a tie for third place, one stroke behind, Yang Hee-young swept up eight birdies without a single bogey. Her concentration was remarkable with consecutive birdies on holes 5 and 6, and a three-birdie streak from holes 13 to 15. Her precise shots missed the fairway and green only twice. Yang debuted on the LPGA Tour in 2008 and has won four times in her career. Since winning the Honda LPGA Thailand in February 2019, she has endured a 4-year and 9-month win drought.

Lin Yu-ling (China) and Korean-Australian Lee Min-ji are tied for fifth at 16-under 200, while Lilia Vu and Nelly Korda (both USA) are tied for seventh at 14-under 202. South Korea’s Kim Hyo-joo and Kim A-rim are tied for 17th at 10-under 206, Choi Hye-jin is tied for 22nd at 9-under 207, Kim Se-young is tied for 35th at 7-under 209, and Yoo Hae-ran and Shin Ji-eun are tied for 41st at 5-under 211. Ko Jin-young, suffering from a knee injury, withdrew from the tournament.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.