Park Ye-ji Takes Sole Lead in Round 3 of KLPGA Major KB Financial Championship with Strong Finish

Park Ye-ji has surged to the sole lead of the third major tournament of the Korea Ladies Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour season, the KB Financial Star Championship (total purse of 1.5 billion won).

Playing in the third round held today (the 12th) at Blackstone Golf Club Icheon (par 72) in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, Park carded 7 birdies and 3 bogeys for a 4-under-par 68.

With a cumulative total of 5-under 211, Park sits in sole possession of first place, one stroke ahead of co-runners-up Park Bo-gyeom and Yoo Seo-yeon (both at 4-under 212).

After finishing the first day of the tournament in a tie for 20th at even par, Park shaved a stroke off in the second round to climb to a tie for 7th, and further elevated her standing to the solo lead in the third round.

A former national amateur team member, Park debuted on the regular tour in 2024 but failed to make a significant mark, spending last season mostly on the secondary Dream Tour before returning to the main tour this season.

This season on the regular tour, she has finished in the top 10 three times, including a runner-up finish at the Lotte Open in July.

Park traded two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine, failing to gain ground, and dropped another stroke on the 11th hole (par 4).

However, she displayed a strong finish by rattling off three consecutive birdies starting from the 12th hole (par 4) and following up with back-to-back birdies on the 16th (par 3) and 17th holes (par 4), securing an opportunity to claim her first regular tour victory at a major.

Reflecting on her round, Park said, "After missing about three par putts from ambiguous distances and slipping into over-par, I cleared my mind and focused solely on the shot in front of me, which caused the birdie putts that wouldn't drop on the front nine to fall consecutively on the back. Dropping mid-range birdie putts of around 4 meters allowed me to gain good momentum all at once."

Hong Jin-young, who led the first and second rounds, lost four strokes in the third round and dropped to a tie for 4th (3-under 213), while Seo Kyo-rim, who leads the grand prize points race (519 points) with four wins this season, lost three strokes to finish the third round in a tie for 6th (2-under 214).

Noh Seung-hee climbed to a tie for 15th (even par 216) after shaving a stroke, highlighted by a hole-in-one on the 16th hole (par 3, 171 yards) today.

With her tee shot with a 7-iron dropping straight into the cup for her first-ever regular tour hole-in-one, Noh received a Mercedes-Benz vehicle valued at approximately 80 million won as a prize.

Noh shared her thoughts, saying, "I once joked that if I hit a hole-in-one on a hole featuring a car as a prize, I would gift the car to my mom and retire immediately. I didn't expect it to happen this soon. I'll have to put retirement on hold, but I'm truly happy to be able to present my mom with a nice car."

Lee Dong-eun, who plays on the LPGA Tour, is tied for 24th (2-over 218), and Chun In-gee is tied for 41st (5-over 221).

Kim Min-sol, the prize money leader (1,366,620,000 won) with three wins this season, slipped to a tie for 46th (6-over 222).

(Photo provided by KLPGA, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.