Japan’s Yuna Nishimura carded her second consecutive 8-under-par 63 on Saturday and stretched her lead to five strokes over the field at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in Rogers, Ark.
Nishimura, 26, who is in search of her first LPGA Tournament victory, did make her first bogey of the weekend but more than made up for it with nine birdies to complete 36 holes at 16 under.
Auston Kim and Chinese golfers Mary Liu and Michelle Zhang all followed up 4-under-par rounds of 67 on Friday with scores of 7-under 64 on Saturday and got to the clubhouse at 11 under.
Nine players were six shots off of Nishimura’s pace, including England’s Lottie Woad and Charley Hull and 30-year old American Sophia Schubert.
Nishimura hit two fewer fairways but shaved three putts off her Friday round. For the second consecutive day, she birdied her first hole of the day — the par-4 10th. She birdied five of seven holes in the middle of the round, then closed birdie-birdie-par to position herself ideally for her first title.
“My short irons were working really well so I was able to put it close to the pin and kind of all worked out for me,” said Nishimura.
The 26-year-old Kim is right back out on the course after making her Solheim Cup debut last week. Like Nishimura, she is searching for her first career title, but she has four top-10 finishes in 2026.
After a topsy-turvy round which featured two eagles and two double bogeys on Friday, Kim produced a bogey-free round on Saturday, finishing with back-to-back birdies on her final two holes (Nos. 8 and 9).
“I hit two really bad shots (Friday) that cost me, and it’s not to say that I didn’t hit any bad shots today, but just being able to minimize the really, really bad ones,” said Kim. “Thankfully I didn’t hit a lot of those today. Just staying positive and trying to be really aggressive to my targets and make as many putts as I can.”
The former Vanderbilt golfer admits to not being “100%” this week, but she truly enjoyed her experience in the Netherlands.
“I had the time of my life with all the girls last week, and it was probably the most I’ve enjoyed playing golf and competing and just being a competitor out there,” she said.
Lauren Coughlin set an LPGA Tour record with nine consecutive birdies to begin her round, putting her in position to shatter Annika Sorenstam’s Tour record of 59 for lowest score in a round. But Coughlin birdied just once on the back nine and finished with a 10-under 61. She is tied for 21st at 8 under thanks to a first-round 73.
Miya Yamashita, also from Japan, tied Nishimura with a 63 on Saturday, but the two-time winner in 2026 carded a 70 on Friday and is seven shots behind her countrywoman.
Nishimura plans to stay calm, yet focused on her final round on Sunday.
“So it’s going to be the same thing again (Sunday), but I would like to go for 20 under…” she said. “Things are going well so I really don’t want to change anything.”
Given her play so far at the Pinnacle Country Club layout, 20 under seems like a modest goal.
–Field Level Media
