SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD THAI ROOKIE LEADS BY THREE SHOTS

                Ariya Jutanugarn, 17-year-old leader in Thailand
 
FROM THE LPGA TOUR WEBSITE
Thailand native and Ladies European Tour rookie Ariya Jutanugarn fired a 2-under 70 today and will take a three-shot lead heading into the final round of the Honda LPGA Thailand tournament.
 The 17-year-old sponsor invite sits at 11-under-par through three rounds with three players chasing close behind her at 8-under -- Se Ri Pak, Stacy Lewis (@Stacy_Lewis) and Spaniard Beatriz Recari (@BeatrizRecari).
Jutanugarn had an up-and-down day on the Siam Country Club’s Pattaya Old Course, recording seven birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey. 
But she got hot enough on the back nine to pull away from the rest of the field. 
After recording a double bogey on the ninth hole, Jutanugarn caught fire as she made the turn. She recorded five straight birdies to start the back nine and took a two-shot advantage over the third-round leader, Lewis. 
The hot streak had the hometown crowd fired up with excitement as roars filled the golf course for the young Thai prodigy. 
“I did feel a lot of pressure early on,” Jutanugarn said of playing in front of her home crowd. “I felt the whole Thai people hope was on my back. After a few holes people starting to cheers me up, and that made all the pressure gone away.”
Jutanugarn’s momentum slowed with a bogey on the 15^th but she stretched her lead back to three shots on the very next hole when she birdied while Lewis dropped a shot. 
Jutanugarn wouldn’t make a single par on the back side as she stumbled with back-to-back bogeys to finish her round. Still, it was a strong enough performance, on a day when the majority of the field struggled to score, to give the 17-year-old, who was brought up only an hour and a half's drive from the course, a solid lead heading into the final round of an LPGA event.
“I should do better than a 2-under,” Jutanugarn said of her round. “But I am happy with my overall result.”
 Ariya won the 2010 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship and the 2011 U.S. Girls Junior Championship. She earned low amateur honours at the 2011 and 2012 Kraft Nabisco Championships If Ariya can win on Sunday in Thailand, she would become the third youngest winner in LPGA history at the age of 17 years, 3 months and 1 day.
Just two days after tying her career-low round of 63, Stacy Lewis had a hard time getting anything to go her way in the third round. The 2012 Rolex Player of the Year entered the day with a three-shot lead over the field but never really found a groove. Lewis recorded six bogeys and just two birdies en route to shooting a 4-over 76. She bogeyed her final three holes of the day to put her three shots back of Jutanugarn entering the final round.
Beatriz Recari (@BeatrizRecari) is pleased with her streak of having not missed a cut on the LPGA Tour since September 2011 at the Navistar LPGA Classic. But the Spaniard has bigger goals this year than just keeping that streak alive.
Recari was one of three players to not miss a cut on the LPGA in 2012, although the other two (Jiyai Shin and Karrie Webb) played fewer events. Recari played in all 28 events on the LPGA Tour last season, which included trips to 13 different countries. 
The 25-year-old, who began the 2012 year as No. 73 in the Rolex Rankings, has moved up 20 spots in the rankings over the past year. She captured a victory during her rookie year in 2010 at the CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge but since then has been working to get back in the winner’s circle.
“Last year I take a lot of positives with making every single cut and I played every tournament,” Recari said. “That obviously gave me a lot of confidence because I was very consistent but I set up some high goals for this year. I finished T4 last week and I just want to be in contention more than I was last year and hopefully get some wins as well.” 
Recari will give herself that opportunity to be in contention once again on Sunday this week following an even par 72 in the third round which has her just three shots behind the leader. 
“I think it’s just going to be a matter of making putts and not making too many silly mistakes,” Recari said. “I think today I just missed in the wrong spot and that cost me a few bogeys. Just got to learn from that and just tomorrow have to be a little bit smarter if the pins are as tough as today.”
 Two-time defending champion Yani Tseng’s chances of a three-peat in Thailand appear to be nearly over. Tseng shot an even-par 72 on Saturday and sits in a T24 at 1-under-par.
Catriona Matthew fell out of a tie for third place - which she had occupied through the first two rounds - with a 76 today for joint 11th place on 212.
The North Berwick player  birdied he second and short 12th but she had bogeys at the fourth, sixth, ninth, 13th, 14th and 18th in halves of 38. 

THIRD-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 216 (3x72)  
205 Ariya Jutanugarn (Thailand) 69 66 70
208 Se Ri Pak (South Korea) 69 68 71, Beatriz Recari (Spain) 68 68 72, Stacy Lewis (US) 63 69 76
209 Inbee Park (South Korea) 67 71 72
210 Lizette Salas (US) 68 69 73, So Yeon Ryu (South Korea) 68 68 74.
211 Na Yeon Choi (South Korea) 73 71 67, Shanshan Feng (China) 71 72 68, Gerina Piller (US) 67 74 70
212 Catriona Matthew (Scotland) 67 69 76, Amy Yang (South Korea) 67 75 70

SELECTED SCORES
215 Suzann Pettersen (Norway) 71 70 74 (T24)
216 Caroline Hedwall (Sweden) 69 75 72, Azahara Munoz (Spain) 70 73 73 9T29)
219 Sandra Gall (Germany) 71 72 76 (T40)
221 Jodi Ewart (England) 77 70 74 (T48)
226 Anna Nordqvist (Sweden) 76 74 76.         

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