Minjee Lee of Australia shot a 3-under 69 in Saturday’s rainy third round to maintain a one-shot lead at the Cognizant Founders Cup in Clifton, N.J.
Lee, who sits at 17-under par, owned a three-shot lead after 36 holes at Upper Montclair Country Club.
Lee is being pursued by Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom, who shot a 5-under 67 — low round of the day — to sit one shot back at 16 under.
Lexi Thompson (69) sits solo in third at 14 under while Angel Yin (68) enters Sunday’s final round six shots back in fourth place.
Rain along with windy conditions hampered the leaders over the final 11 holes.
Lee opened with a birdie on the second hole but followed it with a bogey on the par-4 No. 3. Lee paired another birdie on the front (No. 5) with another coming in at No. 13 to go with a bogey and eagle on Nos. 11 and 12.
“I knew it was sort of in my control a little bit today so I just tried to make as many birdies as I could. I hit a few loose shots here and there so (a) couple bogeys but still a couple birdies too and an eagle,” Lee said. “So it was nice to finish off under par.”
Sagstrom posted a clean round, opening with three birdies on her first four holes. She added two more coming in to keep the heat on Lee. She’s only recorded one bogey in her last 54 holes and is currently second in the field for most birdies through three rounds with 18.
“It’s just one of those rounds that I been looking for in a while. It felt easy,” Sagstrom said. “I left like I wasn’t trying, but also wasn’t giving myself too much grief when I was missing a putt or lipping it out. I had a lot of good chances and my putter was hot in the beginning but then kind of cooled down, but I wasn’t getting upset.”
Thompson put together a round of four birdies against one bogey to put herself in contention on Sunday.
“Coming into the week I knew I was hitting it well. Worked extremely hard in the week off so I put in the work coming out here believing in myself and committing to my golf shots, really just staying in the moment,” said Thompson, who joins Lee as the only remaining players with three straight rounds in the 60s in the event. “That’s what I’ve done all week and I’ll come out and do the same tomorrow and see where that takes me.”
–Field Level Media
