Past champions Jiyai Shin and Ashleigh Buhai have staged Saturday surges to set-up a classic shootout with Australia’s Hannah Green for the ISPS HANDA Australian Open title.
Shin’s cool birdie-birdie finish sends the South Korean into Sunday’s final round with a two-shot lead over Green with 2022-23 champion Buhai two strokes further adrift in third.
You’d call it a race in three because of the quality of the trio at the top of the leaderboard at Melbourne’s Kingston Heath.
Shin (69-68-67) chipped in for the first birdie of the day by a woman on the par four 17th and rolled in a long-range putt on the par four closing hole to show her intent.
She sits at 14-under-par.
The 2013 Australian Open champion has won more than 60 events worldwide to know exactly what it will take under the pressure of leading into the final 18 holes.
South African Buhai, an ISPS HANDA ambassador, was seemingly out of contention for a third straight Australian Open crown until her game caught fire.
She started with a birdie and had seven in her opening 14 holes to roar back into the hunt with a six-under 67 to reach 10-under.
Green (67-71-68) has the support of the big Australian galleries on course. No Australian has won the national Open since 2014 and Green is hungry to fix that. She is at 12-under.
The popular ISPS HANDA ambassador had six straight birdies from the ninth hole in her 68 and hit the lead on the back nine on Saturday. She came unstuck with a double bogey on the 17th.
She found the fairway bunker left off the tee. She hit her second shot thin off the wet sand, caught the lip and her ball rolled back into the sand. By the time, she putted out for a six, she’d lost the lead.
A steadying birdie on the final hole showed Green’s composure. She won three times on the LPGA Tour this year so can approach Sunday with justified confidence.
“After a very slow start, I thought I was out of it already but making six (birdies) in a row changes that very quickly,” Green said.
“Obviously, it was disappointing on the 17th but to make that that birdie on the last was a good taste going into the final round.
“It felt a bit like auto-pilot and not doing anything too spectacular with that run of birdies. It was really nice to have that stretch and feel the putter was rolling.”
Buhai’s putter ran hot.
“I definitely feel some momentum, especially after the first nine holes of the tournament (three-over-par) when I felt I’d played by way out of it,” Buhai said.
“It’s all I could ask for to be in contention.”
