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.
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.
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
