Choi Hye-jin tied for 3rd entering final round at LPGA major
Choi Hye-jin of Korea tees off on the second hole during the third round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas, U.S., June 21. AFP-Yonhap
Korea's Choi Hye-jin is tied for third place heading into the final round of the third major championship of the 2025 LPGA season.
Choi shot an even-par 72 in the third round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco in Frisco, northeast Texas, on Saturday (local time). She is one-over for the tournament after 54 holes, seven behind the sole leader, Korean Australian Minjee Lee.
Lee and Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, who's at two-under, are the only two players under par for the championship. Lee, with her 69, and another Korean Australian, Grace Kim, who shot 68, were the only two to break 70 in the third round played in windy conditions.
Choi, who joined the LPGA Tour in 2022, is seeking her first U.S. tour win. She is coming off a runner-up finish at the Meijer LPGA Classic last week, which came on the heels of consecutive fourth-place finishes at the U.S. Women's Open and the Mexico Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba.
This is Choi's 89th career start as an LPGA member.
Choi birdied the par-5 third hole, but a double bogey on the par-4 seventh threatened to derail her day. Choi bounced back with a birdie on the ninth hole, another par-5. She then had a bogey and a birdie on the back nine.
Choi missed just one of 14 fairways. Though she missed eight greens, Choi needed just 26 putts to get around the 18 holes.
"I thought it was the windiest day of the week. It took a long time to finish my round, and I feel a little tired," Choi said through an interpreter afterward. "But I tried to keep calm, and if I made a mistake, I tried to make up well."
Choi, who finished in the top 10 at each of the first two majors this season, said she plans to return to Korea after this tournament for a much-needed break, following three straight months of competing in the United States.
"I just want to finish with a good round tomorrow," she said. "I will try to keep my faith. I've really played well on hard courses recently. But I think if the course is really hard, any player can make mistakes. I think the difference is when you make mistake, you try to keep your faith and make fewer mistakes afterwards."
Among other Koreans, Lee So-mi is tied for 10th at three-over following a third round of 76.