Nanna Koerstz Madsen led the field after the third round of the LPGA Thailand on Saturday.
The 27-year-old Dane, who scored six birdies to finish six under par at 63, was closely tailed by China’s Lin Xiyu (66) and Celine Boutier (66) of France.
Play was briefly disrupted by lightning at the Siam Country Club in the beach resort of Pattaya, but Madsen put her head down to finish top of the board for the first time.
“It’s exciting,” she said, carding her first two birdies straight out of the gate on pins 1 and 2.
The player – who represented Denmark at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – added: “It would be amazing winning a first LPGA event. That’s what I play for, so that would be just awesome.”
The birdie putt that secured Nanna @KoerstzMadsen's solo lead heading into the final round. 👀 pic.twitter.com/GfQTkAF6We
— LPGA (@LPGA) March 12, 2022
Tucked closed behind was Lin, who surged back into leaderboard contention with an exciting back-nine run of four consecutive birdies.
“So, front nine was pretty average, and then back nine I was just kept telling myself to be patient, it’s going to come, and so it was a good little row,” she said. “I think I put myself in a really good position for tomorrow.”
Tied with Lin was Boutier, who didn’t manage to recapture Friday’s magic and dropped a shot in the back nine.
“I feel like I struggled a bit again with my driver today, but I was able to have some good pars and a few birdies coming in, so I was pretty satisfied with the score,” she said.
Japan’s Nasa Hataoka had a few missteps in the back nine, carding a bogey, before ending the day at 67.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Su Oh – who had tied with Hataoka for the second-round lead – had a disastrous day, tumbling down the leaderboard to end at 73.
© Agence France-Presse
