NA YEON CHOI TAKES ONE-SHOT ADVANTAGE OVER SALAS

ALL CHANGE AGAIN ON LPGA TOUR 

LEADERBOARD IN BAHAMAS

Photo Credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images

Na Yeon Choi of South Korea waves to the gallery after chipping onto the 18th green during round three

FROM THE LPGA TOUR WEBSITE
NASSAU, BAHAMAS
Spectacular shot after spectacular shot went flying on a day that saw five different players either lead or hold a share of the lead during the third round at the season-opening Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic at the Ocean Club Course, Atlantis on Paradise Island, Nassau.

Na Yeon Choi (-15 204 over a par-73 lay-out) finished atop the leaderboard after shooting a 7-under 66 on Saturday, which included a birdie on the 18th to give her a one-shot lead over Lizette Salas (-14).
The leaderboard is stacked heading into the final round, thanks to 12 total eagles holed throughout the day, two of which were recorded by Paula Creamer who sits three shots back of Choi at 12-under. 
Creamer will be paired in the second-to-last group with second-round leader Jessica Korda, who shot a 1-under 72 and sits in a tie for third with Creamer at 12-under-par.
Choi came into this tournament energized after an offseason away from the game to focus on giving her body a rest. Still Choi felt that her swing was in a great place coming into the week and it showed the last three rounds as she hit 16 of 18 greens on Saturday after not missing a green during Friday’s windy round.
“I had so many solid shots out there.” Choi said. “I missed two greens today. Only two, but I hit a putt from the fringe, so obviously I haven’t chipped the last two rounds. 
"Last two, three weeks I haven’t practised much, maybe like seven or 10 days only, and every day it’s just work out like two hours, and then I went to Dallas for chiropractor just more like take care for my body and then I got great feeling about my swing.”
Salas, who fought off flu-like symptoms the past two days, is in position to win her first LPGA tour event heading into the final round on Sunday. After making the turn, Salas birdied three of the first four holes on the back nine to take the lead and finished the day 7-under.
“Once I hit the turn, I was just on it and wanted to make as many birdies as I could.” Salas said. “You can’t always play perfect and that’s the thing about this game. I was trying to play it as best I could coming down the stretch.”
While weather was the story of the day yesterday, a wild day full of changes atop the leaderboard was the story during Saturday’s third round. Korda, who tapped in an eagle on 18 to move to 12-under for the tournament was well aware of the leaderboard throughout her round today.
“I definitely watch leaderboards; that's nothing new. Korda said. 
“I just wanted to see kind of what was going on.  I mean, you don't know what you're going to get.  You have beautiful weather and all of a sudden the golf course plays completely differently.  
"Instead of yesterday I had 152, I hit 9‑iron; today I had 152, I hit 8‑iron.  It plays completely differently.  You're taking different lines.  It's just like a different golf course basically, so it's a lot of getting used to.”
There were a few hiccups for both Jessica Korda and Paula Creamer as they played in the final pairing during Saturday’s third round. But when it comes to finishes, it was hard to top what the pair did on the 18th hole.
Creamer and Korda knocked their second shots on the par-5 finishing hole to near tap-in range. Both made their putts for eagle which moved them to 12-under-par overall, three back of leader Na Yeon Choi, and put the two of them in the second-to-last group for Sunday’s final round.
“I heard Paula, from the crowd, the reaction was great, so I knew that she was close,” Korda said of their eagle chances. “I was like, I want that.  Nothing has fallen in the hole, and I really want something.  So I hit from ‑‑ I think we had 196 pin, and I hit 5‑iron, and I hit it really nice, so I can't complain.”
It was an unusual scoring day for both Creamer and Korda, as Creamer tallied two eagles and a triple-bogey due to a lost ball on the 15th while Korda made a birdie just one hole after making double-bogey due to shanking a ball out of bounds on the 13th. 
It was the type of day that left the two golfers feeling there was nothing to do but laugh at the end due to the craziness of their rounds.
“Many things happened today, yes,” Creamer said. “That’s an understatement. I had a couple bad iron swings out there today.  Obviously the tee shot on the one hole.  But I just didn't play well from there.  You can hit it in the hazard all day and still make a bogey.  There was no need to make a triple.
“But overall I'm proud of the way I finished with my attitude.  I was unfortunate with the triple, but even at the beginning, three‑putting, this par‑3, just kept on plugging away.  It was a roller coaster. 

THIRD-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 219 (3x73) Players from USA unless stated
204 Na Yeon Choi (S Korea) 70 68 66
205 Lizette Salas 72 67 66
207 Paula Creamer 71 65 71, Jessica Korda 69 66 72
208 Amelia Lewis 69 73 66, Stacy Lewis 69 71 68, Jenny Suh 71 66 71

SELECTED OTHER SCORES
209 Lydia Ko (NZ) 68 70 71, Michelle Wie 72 65 72 (T8)
210 Azahara Munoz (Spain) 70 71 69 (T14)
211 Sandra Gal (Germany) 71 69 71 (T15)
214 Jodi Ewart Shadoff (England) 75 68 71 (T25)
215 Pernilla Lindberg (Sweden) 70 71 74 (T31)

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE