Feng's lone birdie gives her U.S. Women's Open lead

BEDMINSTER, N.J. – Methodically, Shanshan Feng traversed the lush green grass of Trump National Golf Club on Saturday making par after par after par while challengers climbed the U.S. Women's Open leader board seeking to nip at her heels.

Finally, after two players had caught her, and after making 17 consecutive pars – 23 in a row going back to Friday's second round – Feng sank a short birdie putt at the 18^th and ended the day the same way she concluded the previous two, as the leader of the women's national championship.

The 27-year-old native of Guangzhou, China, finished with a 1-under-par 71 and a 54-hole score of 9-under 207 to take a 1-stroke lead over Amy Yang and 17-year-old amateur Hye-Jin Choi on a sun-baked day that saw President Trump watch the tournament from his box for more than three hours.

Feng admitted she was nervous starting out Saturday with the lead in a major but managed to sink everything for par, including a 10-foot second putt on No. 2. She eventually settled herself down but still, the birdie putts weren't falling.

"I did pretty well under the pressure and I started to hit the ball better and closer to the hole, so I had some birdie chances," she said. "But my putting didn't work today. I just couldn't get the line and the speed together. And then I was like, 'OK, let's go to Plan B.'

"Plan B is when my putting is not working, I try to hit the ball closer to the hole so I don't need to worry about making the putts. I hit great shots at 16 and 17 but I guess they weren't close enough and I still missed them. Then on 18, I was like, 'Let's hit them little closer,' and I hit to three feet and I finally made a putt. That birdie made my day."

For the day, Feng's iron game was on point as her 16 greens in regulation showed. But she needed 33 putts and gave some contenders hope for Sunday's final round in the quest for the $900,000 first prize, the richest in women's golf.

Yang, 27, who has finished fourth, second and tied for third in the Women's Open the last three years, fell back with a double bogey at the third hole but played bogey-free from that point and bagged four birdies, including one at No. 17 that moved her into a three-way tie for the lead with Feng and Choi, en route to a 70.

"I feel like I'm doing good," she said. "A lot of solid shots out there, gave myself a lot of opportunities and I saved really good pars out there. I'm looking forward to playing" Sunday.

Choi, who wears braces on her teeth but shows the maturity on the course of someone older, bogeyed the first hole but played excellent golf from that point. She birdied the eighth, 11^th and 16^th holes to give herself a chance, and will play with Feng in Sunday's final pairing.

"I didn't have the greatest start," she said through a translator, "but I think if I just stay focused and play the game … not necessarily play safe but maybe more aggressively, kind of like how I did, I think I'm going to be OK" Sunday.

Two top LPGA Tour players from South Korea – Sun Hyung Park and Mirim Lee – each tied for the day's best round, a 67, to vault up the standings. Park, who started the day tied for 21^st, moved into fourth place at 210 and Lee went from a tie for 31^st to a fifth-place deadlock.

Lee was tied at 211 with world No. 1 So Yeon Ryu (71) and 21-year-old Korean tour player Jeongeun Lee (73). Veteran Cristie Kerr fired a 70 and was tied for eighth at 212 with Carlotta Ciganda, who had a 72.

Feng has a chance to be the first wire-to-wire winner in the Women's Open, with no ties, since Hollis Stacy in 1977. She has just one bogey (the 10^th hole of the second round), the fewest in championship history through 54 holes.

"I think I have been doing well this week," she said. "Coming into this week, I didn't have any expectation at all. I wanted to bring out my A game. I think I did really well for the first three days and I'm going to stick to my game plan (Sunday), just focus on my own game and see what happens."