Key events
… so having just said that, another Pulitzer bid goes down the swanny as Kim A-lim makes bounce-back birdie on the 95-yard par-three 8th. She walks in a ten-footer, but she’s still four off the lead because Miyū Wamashita does exactly the same. The birdie extends her lead to two strokes, as up on the par-five 9th, Charley Hull leaves herself a bit too much to do with an uncharacteristically average wedge from a promising position. The birdie putt comes up short as well. A good chance spurned.
-11: Yamashita (8)
-9: Hull (9)
-7: AL Kim (8)
-6: A Lee (8), Katsu (8)
Kim A-lim’s game looks to have deserted her. A short par putt rolls by the hole at 7, and suddenly, at -6, she’s four behind the leader Miyū Yamashita. Kim was joint leader not much more than an hour ago. Meanwhile Hsu Wei-ling’s momentum stalls with bogey at 10.
-10: Yamashita (7)
-9: Hull (8)
-6: A Lee (8), Katsu (8), AL Kim (7)
Hsu Wei-ling reaches the turn in 34. The 30-year-old from Taiwan doesn’t have much of a record in the majors, but one of her two top-ten finishes came just a couple of months ago at the PGA. Now she’s closing in on another. Having opened bogey-bogey, Hsu has since birdied 4 and 9, and eagled 6. She’s -6.
Charley’s Charge is on! The short par-three 8th is playing just 95 yards today. Hull doesn’t wedge her tee shot particularly close, but she makes the 15-foot putt she leaves herself. Just. The right-hand side of the cup grabs enough of the ball just as it threatens to kink wide. That’s three birdies in four holes, and the crowd sense something is brewing. They sensed it at Walton Heath a couple of years ago as well, only for Hull to fall short in the end; perhaps that experience will stand the popular English star in good stead this time round.
-10: Yamashita (6)
-9: Hull (8)
-7: AL Kim (6)
Kim A-lim’s left-to-right birdie attempt on 6 stubbornly refuses to drop. That opens the door for Miyū Yamashita, but the leader also fails to give her birdie putt enough juice. The last group remain at -7 and -10 respectively. Meanwhile on 13, small jets of steam come out of Lottie Woad’s ears. Having started bogey-bogey, she’d clawed herself back to where she started (-3) with birdies at 8 and 9. But she’s since missed good birdie chances at 10 and 11, and now fails to make a short par putt on 12. Her flat stick failing her at exactly the wrong time, she walks off the green by throwing her ball into the air, then catching it with a wild swipe. Not happy. She’s -2.
Charley Hull is a couple of joules of energy shy of three birdies in a row. Her right-to-left slider from 30 feet on 7 stops just short. Meanwhile Kim A-lim finds a fairway bunker down the left of the par-five 6th, then slaps her attempted escape into the face of the trap. The ball still pings back out onto the grass, though, and she takes full advantage of her good fortune, whip-cracking a wood into the heart of the green, a gentle draw setting up chance of bounce-back birdie. She’ll have a look from 25 feet.
Charley Hull loves the chase. “It’s quite fun,” she said after yesterday’s entertaining 66. “I like it. It’s more fun that way. I like hunting someone down.” And she’s doing just that. Having negotiated Porthcawl’s brutal opening four holes in level par, she’s now pressing the pedal to the floor. She follows the aforementioned birdie at 5 by finding the par-five 6th in two big lashes, then nearly draining the long eagle putt. She taps in for back-to-back birdies, and is now firmly positioned in Miyū Yamashita’s rear-view mirror.
-10: Yamashita (5)
-8: Hull (6)
-7: AL Kim (5)
-6: Katsu (6), A Lee (5)
Kim A-lim is beginning to look frustrated. She hasn’t worked out the pace of the greens at all. She leaves her uphill birdie putt at 5 short, and harrumphs as she tidies up for par. Her mood may be slightly improved by Miyū Yamashita pushing her six-foot birdie attempt wide right, then nearly missing the tiddler coming back, but the left-hand side of the cup grabs enough of the ball for it to drop. Yamashita admitted that nerves got the better of her during yesterday’s 74; don’t be totally surprised if they kick in again as she looks to close this out.
A big change at the top. Birdie for Miyū Yamashita on 4 as she rolls in a 15-footer. But it’s a dropped shot for her playing partner Kim A-lim, who comes up short with a bunker shot and misses the par saver on the low side. All of a sudden, there’s a three-stroke buffer for the 24-year-old from Japan, who came close at the PGA last year, as one of three runners-up behind Amy Yang, and is now on course to go one better and land her first major title.
-10: Yamashita (4)
-7: Hull (5), AL Kim (4)
-6: A Lee (5)
Paula Martin Sampedro was going round with last year’s champion Lydia Ko. The Kiwi also birdies the last, and finishes the defence of her title with a round of 75, +3 overall.
Paula Martin Sampedro wins Smyth Salver
… and she does it in style, getting up and down from a greenside bunker at 18 for birdie! That’s her sixth on the back nine, after that five-in-a-row run between 11 and 15, and she’s played it in 30 strokes. A closing round of 68, and she ends the week at -4. Expect more big things from the 20-year-old Spaniard; recent winners include Leona Maguire, Atthaya Thitikul, Rose Zhang and Lottie Woad.
Minami Katsu makes a wonder-par on 4. Her tee shot at 4 looks to be snap-hooking out of bounds, but hits a steward and stays on the property. She zig-zags her way up the hole, and finds herself in a swale to the right of the green. You know the rest: she rakes in her Texas Wedge, and remains at -5. Meanwhile birdie for Charley Hull at 5, her first move of the day at the beginning of a kinder run of holes. She’s -7, and properly in the hunt now.
So much for that advantage. Kim A-lim sends her long birdie putt six feet past, then fails to hit the one coming back. Her ball stops on the edge and stubbornly refuses to drop, despite the wind whipping in from the Bristol Channel. Miyū Yamashita meanwhile chips up to five feet, and tidies up for a battling par, her one-shot lead at the top restored.
-9: Yamashita (3)
-8: AL Kim (3)
-6: Hull (4)
-5: Takeda (5), Khang (4), A Lee (3), Katsu (3)
Kim A-lim wallops her drive at 3 straight down the middle. She’s way longer than her playing partner Miyū Yamashita, who needs a fairway wood to reach the green. Yamashita sends her second into thick grass to the right of the dancefloor. Kim meanwhile, requiring only an 8-iron, carefully finds the centre of the green. Advantage Kim. Birdies are precious, of course, but the bulk of evidence suggests that today is all about the struggle, the scramble, and not going backwards.
We’re tied at the top. Kim A-lim lands her second into 2 ten feet past the flag, then spins it back to six. She rolls in the birdie putt, and joins her playing partner Miyū Yamashita at -9. A clumsy three-putt bogey for Megan Khang on 3, meanwhile, and the top of the leaderboard thins out a little more.
-9: Yamashita (2), AL Kim (2)
-6: Hull (3)
-5: Takeda (4), Khang (3), A Lee (2), Katsu (2)
-4: SY Kim (10), Rhodes (7), H Kim (6)
Paula Martin Sampredo is going to win the Silver Salver for low amateur. She’s -3 overall with just a couple of holes to play, and the next-best amateur is Carla Bernat, in the hutch at +9. So on the one hand, you could say this particular race is anti-climactic … except that the 20-year-old Spaniard, who won the Women’s Amateur Championship in June at Nairn, has made five birdies in a row on the back nine, between 11 and 15. What is it with Spanish swashbucklers and the Open?
An opening bogey for Andrea Lee. Then the final pairing take to the course, with Kim A-lim and Miyū Yamashita parring the opening hole. Suddenly there’s a little bit of separation at the top of the leaderboard. Meanwhile Kim Sei-young rapidly undoes exactly half of all her good work on the front nine, with double bogey at 10. She slips back to -4, and that’s golf in a nutshell.
-9: Yamashita (1)
-8: AL Kim (1)
-6: Hull (2), Khang (2)
This will sound utterly preposterous, but there’s a reasonable chance we’ll see another ace at the par-three 5th today. Kim Hyojoo and Ariya Jutanugarn nearly combine to replicate the antics of Steph Kyriacou and Mimi Rhodes, Kim knocking her tee shot to kick-in distance, Jutanugarn then doing the same. But her ball doesn’t cannon in for an ace, stopping just short instead. Those odds perhaps not so infinitesimal after all. The pin’s certainly in a spot where the camber of the green gathers the ball. No pressure on the groups that follow, then, but having seen four shots in a row pepper the flag, one of them dropping for an ace, the other three less than the width of a ball away from doing so, the gallery expect!
While all that bedlam was unfolding, Charley Hull was battering a huge drive down the middle of 1, finding a pot bunker with her approach, then swishing out of it to close range, saving her par. And up on 9, it’s yet another birdie for Kim Sei-young. She’s out in 32, proof that a score can be made out there, despite the conditions. She’s -6.
Hole-in-one for Mimi Rhodes!
Mimi Rhodes is making her Open debut this week. The 24-year-old from Bath already has three wins on the European Tour to her name this year, at the NSW Open, the Joburg Open, and the Dutch Open. She’ll not be adding the British title to her resumé, not this year anyway, but she’s made her mark here nonetheless. And in spectacular circumstances. First up, on the tee at the 184-yard par-three 5th, Steph Kyriacou, who whips her iron straight at the flag. It’s rolling towards the cup … but on it’s very last rotation, the ball turns to the left and stops at the side of the hole. Rhodes takes her turn, and sends an almost identical shot straight at the pin. This one’s going to miss the hole on the left … but it doesn’t miss Kyriacou’s ball, and kisses off it, snooker style, and in for an ace! That’s an outrageous sequence of events! Odds infinitesimal! Rhodes points to herself in disbelief, as if to ask: was that my ball that went in? And also: did that really happen?!?! Yep! She high-fives with Kyriacou, the pair grinning with delight. As Rhodes continues to cavort, Kyriacou walks off towards the green and shares a theatrical – and extremely good-humoured – joke with her caddie, both waving their arms in the dash-darn-god-damn-it fashion. You’ll be seeing all of that again. Delightful. (Almost An Afterthought dept. Rhodes is back up to -4.)
… so there’s not a great deal of upward movement on the leaderboard, but the 2020 PGA champion Kim Sei-young is showing it can be done. Birdies for the 32-year-old South Korean at 5, 6 and 7, and it’s nearly four in a row as her 25-footer shaves the lip on the par-three 8th. That one’s not to be, but she’s whistled up the standings to -5. Time for the first leaderboard update of the day, then.
-9: Yamashita
-8: AL Kim
-7: Lee
-6: Katsu, Hull, Khang
-5: SY Kim (8), Takeda (1)
Early trouble for the 2018 champion Georgia Hall. The 29-year-old AFC Bournemouth fan finds thick rough down the left from the centre of 1, and can’t chop out onto the green. She’s left with a long putt from the fringe for par. It’s asking too much, and that’s a shot dropped immediately due to an unforced error. She’s -4. Meanwhile a three-putt bogey for her playing partner Rio Takeda; she’s now -5. The gallery muted as they witness the 22nd and 23rd bogeys at this hole today.
Lottie Woad isn’t the only big name heading in the wrong direction early doors. The wind is whipping right to left across the 1st fairway, and it’s causing all manner of problems. The 2016 champion Ariya Jutanugarn sets her opening tee shot out to the right, hoping for a mix of wind and draw to bring it back. It doesn’t come. Into a gorse bush she goes. Reload, and that leads to a triple-bogey seven. She then drops another at 2, and in a flash, she drops 18 places on the leaderboard to +1, any faint hopes of glory gone. It’s a similar story for Steph Kyriacou, who sends her second at 1 out of bounds on the left, then nearly does it again with her second ball. Another triple-bogey seven, and following bogey at 3, she’s +1 as well.
It’s been a poor start for golf’s hottest property, the new Irish and Scottish Open champion Lottie Woad. The 21-year-old from Surrey won the Smyth Salver for low amateur at St Andrews last year, finishing in a tie for tenth, but a similarly high finish might already be beyond her this time round. Woad bogeys 1, the result of hooking her approach from the centre of the fairway miles left, then drops another at 2 thanks to a three-putt. Her radar is a bit skew-whiff on 4 as well, as she misreads a long birdie putt, but she’s able to tidy up for a par that keeps her at -1 overall.
Conditions haven’t been great for the early starters. It’s been raining, and blowing a hoolie. As a result, there hasn’t been much forward momentum on display. So far there are only two players back in the clubhouse with a score under par: Shannon Tan, who ends the week at +5 after her 70, and the 2013 champion Stacy Lewis, who shot 71 to finish her tournament at +7. The 65s and 66s of earlier in the week something of a pipe dream right now … and although it’s since stopped raining, with temperatures forecast to rise a bit during the afternoon, the wind’s likely to stay up. Good luck to one and all.
Preamble
It’s not called Moving Day for nothing. After 36 holes, the top of the leaderboard at the 49th Women’s Open looked like this …
-11: Miyū Yamashita
-8: Rio Takeda
-4: Pajaree Anannarukarn, Lindy Duncan, Laura Fünfstück, Chiara Tamburlini
… and it was beginning to look like the first major to ever be held at Royal Porthcawl was either going to turn into either a procession or a mano-a-mano battle. But then after yesterday’s third round, the top of the leaderboard looked like this …
-9: Miyū Yamashita
-8: Kim A-lim
-7: Andrea Lee
-6: Minami Katsu, Charley Hull, Megan Khang, Rio Takeda
-4: Georgia Hall, Hsu Wei-ling, Chiara Tamburlini
-3: Mao Saigo, Ariya Jutanugarn, Kim Hyojoo, Steph Kyriacou, Mimi Rhodes, Lottie Woad
… and, well, OK, Yamashita is still in pole position. But after her two-over round of 74, 67s for Kim A-lim and Andrea Lee, a 66 for Charley Hull and 65 for Minami Katsu, an awful lot of quality big-name players are suddenly on her shoulder. Lydia Ko came roaring through the pack at St Andrews to claim the title last year; there are plenty of stars who’ll fancy their chances of performing the very same trick today. Yamashita – who admitted to feeling nervous while leading from the front yesterday – will hope to rediscover her confident 65-shooting Friday self and bag her first major title. It’s all set up so deliciously. Here are the final few tee times (BST). It’s on!
1.50pm: Georgia Hall, Rio Takeda
2pm: Megan Khang, Charley Hull
2.10pm: Minami Katsu, Andrea Lee
2.20pm: Kim A-lim, Miyū Yamashita