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

Playing the third round of the tournament at Blackstone Golf Club Icheon (par 72) in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, today (September 12), Park shot 4-under-par 68 with seven birdies and three bogeys.

With a cumulative total of 5-under-par 211, she took the sole lead, sitting one stroke ahead of co-runners-up Park Bo-gyeom and Yu Seo-yeon (both at 4-under-par 212).

After finishing the first round tied for 20th at even par, Park climbed to a tie for 7th by shaving a stroke in the second round, and finally seized the sole lead in the third round.

A former national amateur team member, Park debuted on the regular tour in 2024. Failing to leave a notable mark, she mostly played on the secondary Dream Tour last season before returning to the main tour this season.

On the regular tour this year, she has finished in the top 10 three times, including a runner-up finish at the Lotte Open in July.

Today, Park traded two birdies against two bogeys on the front nine without lowering her score, and dropped another stroke on the 11th hole (par 4).

However, she displayed strong finishing resilience by rattling off three consecutive birdies starting from the 12th hole (par 4) and adding another streak on the 16th (par 3) and 17th holes (par 4), earning a chance to claim her first regular tour victory at a major tournament.

Reflecting on her round, Park said, "After dropping into over-par by missing about three par putts from ambiguous distances, I cleared my mind and focused solely on the shot right in front of me, which caused the birdie putts that wouldn't drop on the front nine to fall consecutively on the back nine. Mid-range birdie putts of around 4 meters dropped and allowed me to catch a great rhythm all at once."

She added, "Even before the tournament, I thought a lot about how nice it would be if I became the main character of my main sponsor's tournament. Even though it might bring heavier pressure, I will stay deeply immersed in my own play without being conscious of the score, just like I did on the back nine today."

Hong Jin-young, who led the first and second rounds, dropped four strokes today to fall into a tie for 4th place (3-under-par 213), while Seo Kyo-rim, who has secured four wins this season and leads the grand prix points race (519 points), lost three strokes to finish the third round tied for 6th place (2-under-par 214).


Noh Seung-hee trimmed a stroke by hitting a hole-in-one on the 16th hole (par 3, 171 yards) today, moving up to a tie for 15th place (even par 216).

With her tee shot with a 7-iron going straight into the cup on the 16th hole for her first-ever hole-in-one on the regular tour, Noh received a Mercedes-Benz vehicle worth approximately 80 million won as a prize.

She shared her thoughts, saying, "I once joked that if I got my first hole-in-one on a hole with a car attached, I would gift the car to my mom and retire immediately, though I didn't expect to do it this soon. I'll have to postpone retirement, but I'm truly happy to be able to gift my mom a great car."

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

Kim Min-sol, who leads the prize money standings with three wins this season (1.36662 billion won), settled in a tie for 46th (6-over-par 222).

(Photo: Provided by KLPGA, Yonhap News)